Keep an Eye on Me
by shrimpette
Summary: Eyes were known to have a high resistance to psychological traumas. They had to brush everything off to remain sane. Eyes were also supposed to be physically fit, have a talent for solving crimes that couldn't be dealt with immediately, and, what was most important, they had to be empathetic to other people's suffering. /AU, SNS, MxM, dystopian future
1. Chapter 1

Everyone seemed to be excited. It was to be expected, after all, it was the red letters day. At noon everyone would learn what their future jobs would be. Obviously, some of the more hopeful ones believed that they would belong to the very few, who would get the job of their dreams. Like Naruto, who told everyone on the first day of high school that he would become an Eye. Sasuke had no idea why he would even want to be one. In his opinion, they were the scum of the earth.

An Eye's job was to keep the system in place. They were the human control over the Core. Its algorithms were almost perfect, they spotted every suspicious activity - usually through its agent's eyes - but Eyes still had to confirm that it was against the law. The decision whether someone was to be paralyzed and sent to the moon - literally - was theirs. Then the law-breakers would work in the mines, watching other convicts become the shadows of their former selves. They would be just like them in no time.

Sometimes Sasuke wished the Core was never invented. People gave away some of their freedom in exchange for the perfect world. The world, in which all of the crimes became solved in matter of seconds, in which all the diseases were discovered before they could hurt human body, in which everything was perfectly measured and done in such a way that would make the society happier.

Everyone was a part of the Net. The Core was the central part of the Net, making all the decisions and processing data gained through it. People were becoming a part of it even before they were born, nanobots getting into their bodies with mother's blood. When they came to the world, the Net was already complete, gaining information and registering everything they could sense, see or hear. They were never alone and yet they never really thought about it. They never really decided their future, but they didn't complain. It was no use.

Sasuke glared at his classmates. He wished he could become a historian to learn about how the world was like when there was no Net. Dwelling in the past was something he had been accused of way too often for his liking.

Usually by Naruto. The blonde was probably the most avid supporter of what the Core brought with itself. And it seemed that he blindly believed in what he had seen in the augmented realities, and that as an Eye he would have any detective work to do. Sasuke tried telling him that being an Eye was literally just watching people hurt one another, and then pushing a button to shut their bodies down but the blonde never believed him. After some time Sasuke stopped trying to explain it to him.

Their teacher finally came to the classroom, holding a neat pile of envelopes. Sasuke frowned. He had no idea why anyone was bothering themselves with printing anything on actual paper but some of his classmates were pretty excited about it. Paper was quite expensive, and it had been deemed an unnecessary luxury a long time ago. And now they would have some of their own. The envelopes were the most ridiculous part of it all. Packing paper in more paper was a concept Sasuke wasn't able to grasp.

Eventually, he was given the letter. He was anxious to open it. As long as he didn't, his future wasn't decided. He saw others unpack theirs, their faces flushed with emotions. Their excitement soon changed into disappointment. Everyone's but Naruto's. The blonde practically howled in victory. It seemed that his stupid wish came true.

Sasuke opened his letter, carefully unfolding the paper. Then blood froze over in his veins. He was to become an Eye.

* * *

New Venice was magnificent. It had been built as a tribute to the old Venice, which got flooded over 200 years ago. It was an artificial island in the center of an artificial lake. Its narrow streets were paved with pebbles of a delicate, grayish color that corresponded well with pastel buildings inspired by the goticofiorito style. There was over 300 bridges here. Everything was kept in light shades, so the whole city looked like a shadow of the Italian city from before the flood. It looked unrealistic, as if made of air, as if it could disappear any second.

It was the capitol, and it looked perfect.

The Academy itself was white and enormous, with numerous arches and columns, sculptures and gilded domes, slender towers and murals. It was intimidating and beautiful.

It was going to be Naruto's new home.

When he came in, he was astonished by the wealth of the interior. The grand foyer was almost fully clad in creole and white marble, with many gilded ornaments, four lines of columns and crystal chandeliers. The floor was polished so well that it worked like a mirror. It was dreamlike. He stood at the entrance, not capable of moving forward, when a tall woman approached him.

"You must be Mr. Uzumaki," she said, looking at his baggage. The woman was much taller than him.

"It's me," the blonde muttered back, nodding his head, "Uzumaki Naruto." She glared at him for a second, as if she was judging whether he was capable of becoming an Eye.

"My name's Mitarashi Anko, I'm in charge of the newcomers. Among other things, of course," she introduced herself. "I'm going to guide you to your room, please, follow me." Naruto took his big suitcase and a bag as she continued to talk. "Mr. Hatake is going to take care of your education. He is very young, but he proved himself to be an excellent tutor. You will meet him tomorrow. Respect him and you may go far." Her voice was strong and loud. He could hear her loud and clear even though she wasn't facing him. "Number 34 is your apartment. It's on the second floor, in the east wing. It comprises of a bedroom and a bathroom. If you want to eat something, there are lunchrooms on the third and fourth floor. They are open from 6 A.M. to 10 P.M."

The hall they were going through wasn't as fancy as the entrance. It looked more modern and had much simpler design, very similar to what Naruto was used to.

"If you need anything, just go to the lobby, there's always someone you can ask for help," she stated, as they stopped before the door with the number 34 on it. "This is your room and here's your keycard. Don't lose it. You can either start to unpack yourself or leave your baggage, and go to the canteen. If you don't have any questions, I'll take my leave."

"Thank you, Madam," Naruto replied. The woman sent him a faint smile, and bid him farewell.

The blonde breathed in. He was finally there. His dream came true. All he had been fighting for all these years was so close he could almost touch it. A wide grin appeared on his face as he came into a small, clean room. There was a bed, a desk, a chair, and a closet. That was pretty much it. The door on the left led to the bathroom, in which there was a shower, a toilet and a sink. It wasn't as if Naruto needed anything more - that was how he used to live like before but it still was a huge contrast with the exterior design of the place.

When he finished unpacking, he lay down on the bed and sighed. The classes were supposed to start tomorrow, and he was way too excited to have to wait more. He had been waiting all Summer.

That was the second time he had ever visited the capitol - the first one was a mandatory school trip. The rest of the cities looked nothing like New Venice. They were all carbon copy of one another - modern, gray, and impersonal. New Venice was breathtaking. Even always grumpy Uchiha looked at it in awe.

Naruto rolled on his stomach. If what Shikamaru told him was true, Sasuke was going to be one of his classmates. That seemed unfair. He had never wanted to be an Eye, and there were _so_ many people, who would had given everything to be one that it seemed almost ridiculous. On the other hand, Sasuke was good at pretty much everything. He was probably cramming all day and night to get his daily dose of "I'm-much-better-than-you."

He was a total asshole. And it seemed that he was physically unable to be excited for anything. For some reason, people dug it. And Naruto had to admit that he had had a "Sasuke phase" as well. The only problem was that Sasuke was as uninterested in others as one could probably get. So, after being indirectly rejected, Naruto decided to make the stubborn asshole his rival. And that probably backfired. The moment Naruto caught up with him, he got better. And so they both competed against one another. Or this was what Naruto liked to think. Sasuke had never acknowledged that rivalry, pretending he didn't notice it. And that was just another proof that the boy was an asocial jerk.

The blonde got up, shaking his head. Sasuke wouldn't ruin it for him. He was exactly where he wanted to be, and he was going to start enjoying it right this moment. His stomach grumbled in disagreement, and Naruto had to amend his plan. He would start enjoying it right after getting a meal.

* * *

Sasuke sighed upon being tapped on the shoulder. He opened his eyes, shutting off augmented reality, and glared at the newcomer. Then he sighed again. Naruto huffed at him.

"You're the only person I know in here, bastard," he barked.

"Then go make some new friends," Sasuke replied, shrugging shoulders, and closing his eyes again. He should had stayed in his room but they were too depressing for his liking. They didn't even have any windows. Anyone would feel claustrophobic. That was why he decided to relax in the canteen. Unfortunately now he would have to remove the word "relax" from that sentence.

The augmented reality restarted. It was a pleasant one - many people deemed it boring, especially those who needed each and every one to be interactive - but Sasuke enjoyed simply sitting in gardens, warm wind brushing against his skin, birds chirping in the distance, and flowers...

"They already have friends," Naruto whined. Sasuke frowned, opening his eyes again.

"That's not _my_ problem," he growled, looking around the lunch room. It was true that people were already divided into smaller groups, talking about some unimportant matters. He even felt sort of sorry for the moron. Naruto had always been an attention whore, and, probably, having everyone ignore him had to be devastating to his self-esteem. It seemed that he was even willing to have a fight with Sasuke. He would probably do anything to feel less lonely.

"What are you playing?" the blonde inquired. Sasuke quirked his eyebrow in surprise. Naruto was supposed to argue with him, not ask him questions. "I bet it's something stupid," Naruto chuckled. Sasuke shook his head, not certain whether he felt more annoyed or relieved. There it was. The world was still the same, and he still hated it.

"I don't do stupid things," he said lazily.

"That's because you're boring," Naruto laughed. "And what did you let your hair grow for? It looks terrible-"

"I don't care," Sasuke interrupted the moron, who didn't seem to be bothered by it, slurping on his noodles. As if Sasuke invited him to take a seat. He sighed, and closed his eyes again, hoping that this time he wouldn't be distracted.

"What's your room number?" Naruto asked. The brunette reached to his pocket to show him his keycard. "We're neighbors," the blonde exclaimed happily. "Wait, now that I think about it, it sucks," he decided in a grunt. Sasuke mentally agreed with him, trying to focus on the tree crown above him. Light flickered on its leaves. "Have you seen our timetables already?" Naruto asked another irritating question. Sasuke nodded. "It's going to be really hard from now on," the blonde whined. "I mean, there's so much _law_ , like, seriously, I don't need it-"

"You're going to be a law enforcer, this is exactly what you need," Sasuke pointed out in a tired voice. He wished he could shut off his hearing. But then he would probably stay in the augmented reality forever. Just like many other people before him.

"No, but seriously though. What are you playing?" Naruto inquired. "Your eyeballs aren't moving much, so it can't be anything too exciting-"

"Why do you care?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm bored," the blonde admitted. "I could play with you," he offered. That was unexpected. He had to be really desperate.

"It's not a game," Sasuke said. He wasn't a big fan of games. "It's just a regular app-"

"You couldn't get any more boring even if you tried to," Naruto whined. "I have no idea why you got here," he complained.

"Me neither," Sasuke whispered.

An awkward silence fell upon them. The brunette cleared his throat. He wouldn't had thought he would ever miss the sound of Naruto's voice but he did. They had never talked about anything particularly important, and starting such a topic now was pretty uncanny. That wasn't how they worked like. Naruto was an annoying idiot, who kept on insulting Sasuke all throughout high school. Sasuke had no idea why. The blonde seemed to like pretty much everyone but he had some issues with him. Perhaps they just weren't compatible. Maybe it was destiny. Sasuke wouldn't know. He was however certain that he didn't deserve any of it.

"The worst thing about you is that you don't care about things other people have to work for," Naruto said. He sounded offended. Sasuke opened his eyes to look at the boy. His bowl was already empty, his lips glistening with the broth. His sky blue eyes were boring into Sasuke's black ones, anger shining in them.

"Has it occurred to you that not everyone wants the same thing?" he questioned. "I don't _want_ to be here-"

"You're just being ungrateful," the blonde snapped.

"Get lost," Sasuke demanded, closing his eyes again. He decided to not talk back to the moron ever again. It was just a waste of time. To his surprise, Naruto apparently decided that he was done with disturbing other people. Sasuke sighed, trying to enjoy the augmented reality. Unfortunately, he was just getting more annoyed. He glared at plants as if they personally offended him. "You're just an idiot who's happy with whatever shit people throw at him," he added against his better judgment. He should had shut up. There was no need to continue that conversation.

"You should check your hormone levels," Naruto suggested. He sounded worried. He shouldn't sound worried. "Maybe your Net isn't working the way it should-"

"Yes, because being drugged into happiness is a desirable thing," Sasuke sneered. He was certain there was nothing wrong with his Net. It was like this from the very beginning. And if his nanobots weren't too eager to spew hormones into his system for no reason whatsoever, then all the better. At least he knew he was still himself.

"Sometimes I think you like being miserable," Naruto stated in a hushed voice.

Sasuke expected him to say more but he just heard him getting up. Nobody said anything to him for the next few minutes. He opened his eyes to find himself alone. He should be happy but he felt mostly lonely. And he knew he would feel like this for the rest of his life. Sasuke sighed, massaging his temples. Being miserable meant being reasonable. The world was as ruined as it could probably get, and there was no way to fix it.

* * *

Sasuke studied his new teacher, narrowing his eyes at him. It turned out that while every class was taught by a different person, Hatake Kakashi was supposed to be some sort of a homeroom teacher. The man looked young but his hair was gray. That didn't make much sense.

People weren't really allowed to grow old - they lived as long as long their bodies were able to support the Net, which kept them healthy. Afterwards, when energy costs grew too much, the Net was shutting them down. There was some logic to it - it was one of the means to keep the population under control. The other one, which wasn't discussed too broadly, was stopping people from reproducing. Many deemed it a conspiracy theory, arguing that nobody would allow something like this to happen but the Core was just a computer. It would always be logical, and fighting overpopulation was much more important than personal happiness.

And that was morally gray at best. If the theory was right, the Net was stopping people from having babies. It was causing miscarriages in women, and it was making sperm slow and useless. Sasuke had no idea how it was determining who would be able to reproduce but he was the only person with a sibling he knew personally. His parents either possessed extremely good genes or they were just lucky.

Of course, that wasn't the end of possibilities. If the Net could spew any hormone into its host's body, it would mean that even something as basic as human relationships was governed by it. All it took to care about someone, was some oxytocin. All it took to lust after someone, was testosterone and estrogen.

That was why Sasuke didn't act upon his instincts. And that was why he didn't treat same sex unions too seriously. It was probably just another way of controlling the population while keeping it happy. The Core seemed to be aware of how important pleasuring the people was. So it gave them sex, food and entertainments even though none of it was essential to human existence.

"You'll be working in three man groups," Mr Hatake stated in a dull tone. Sasuke looked around the room. That was worrying. The other two people present in there were Naruto and a girl he didn't know. The blonde also seemed to realize that they would be put together. Sasuke had no idea why. It was rather clear that their teamwork would be awful. He was generally unable to work in a group. Other people were just slowing him down. "You'll have classes with the rest but this is your team for all the tasks," the man continued, looking bored. He had came in late but that didn't seem to bother him in the slightest. "You need to cooperate-"

"Because we'll be catching criminals," Naruto exclaimed. "Sakura, we should ditch that grump and work in a duo," he said. Sasuke rolled his eyes. So Naruto already knew the girl's name. She blushed, scooting closer to Sasuke, who stared at her, studying her features. At least she was quiet. He would probably go insane if she was as much of a loudmouth as Naruto was.

"Yes, criminals," the teacher sighed. "No ditching, though. You're a team now. You were chosen to work together by the Core, so you're compatible," he added.

Naruto burst out laughing. Sasuke mentally agreed. They weren't compatible. The Core had made a mistake. Nevertheless, Sasuke knew he was able to adapt. He just hoped that the idiot wouldn't make it more problematic than it had to be.

* * *

Sakura twirled a spoon in her bowl, swallowing the fish broth. She was tired of fish and algae but meat, vegetables and fruits were pretty damn expensive. That wasn't too surprising, seeing how precious the land was, and how overcrowded the planet already was.

She stared at the two boys she was grouped with. It seemed that they didn't like one another, and that was reassuring. She had been afraid she would get third-wheeled. Especially since she had seen them talk yesterday. But they weren't friends. They weren't even talking to one another. Naruto, an annoying, dark-skinned blonde, kept shouting questions at her. She was replying to them, hoping that the other boy, the insanely handsome one, was listening as well.

Her heart had been beating faster ever since she saw him. He had a cool aura of mystery around him, and he looked quite mature for his age. She smiled at him, handing him a napkin when some of the food Naruto was chewing on landed on the brunette's face. He glared at her, visibly unaware that anything of the sort had happened.

"You have fish on your cheek," she whispered shyly. Sasuke continued leveling her with his mesmerizing eyes, and she mustered enough courage to wipe it off. "Here," she stuttered.

"He should be wearing a bib, he's such a baby," the blonde laughed. Sakura frowned at the boy.

"It's your fault, you're eating like a pig," she barked. She had never seen a pig - not in real life - but apparently the blonde knew what she was talking about because he pouted at her, visibly hurt.

"Sakura," he whined. "Don't tell me you're into the emo kid as well-"

"I'm not emo," Sasuke hissed at the blonde. It was the second time she heard him talking, and his voice was just as wonderful as she remembered it. It was a deep baritone, which was sending shivers down her spine. She crossed her legs, rubbing them against one another. She had no idea whether admitting her attraction now would be a good move but Sasuke didn't seem to have anything against it - after all, he didn't comment on it. Sakura wondered if he was one of the shy boys. If that was the case, then playing it safe would be the way to go. Sasuke was out of this world, and she was ready to court him. "Thanks," the boy added, bowing his head to her. Sakura mentally squealed. And he behaved so well, too! Naruto was nothing compared to him.

"Yeah, not emo my ass," Naruto laughed. "But seriously, Sakura, don't waste your time on him. He's never been with anyone, and I doubt he ever will be. You see, he likes being all lonely, it makes it easier for him to pity himself," the blonde babbled. Sakura glared daggers at him. If Sasuke had been surrounded by such idiots as Naruto, then there was no wonder he was alone. And she had to admit there was something inherently hot about virgins. She wouldn't mind being Sasuke's first and last partner.

The brunette sighed, and closed his eyes. Sakura stared at him, admiring his long eyelashes. He was gorgeous, she decided. And they were probably destined for one another. There was no other explanation for the warm feeling consuming her body, and the butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

"I fail to see what makes it your business," Sasuke complained. "We're supposed to just work together, you can stop worrying about my personal life," he muttered. Sakura nodded fiercely. She had no idea why the Core put them together. It was clear that she and Sasuke would be faring much better on their own.

* * *

Naruto pouted at his teammates. It was the first day of their classes, and while most of them ended before time because they were just organizational, Ms. Mitarashi decided to use all of her time. Naruto didn't mind it, in fact, he was quite excited.

The task they were given was quite simple. They were supposed to answer some questions about the proper course of action in some theoretical scenarios. Other teams were doing pretty well - they either worked together on every question or divided the work among themselves. Theirs was... Well. At first they decided to divide the work, and it was going well for two minutes or so. After that, Sasuke decided he didn't trust Naruto enough to let him work on his own, and Sakura, the prettiest girl Naruto had ever seen, kept asking the asshole for help even though it seemed as if she was doing pretty well on her own. The blonde had no idea why she pretended to be not as smart as she was. He knew for a fact that it wouldn't impress Sasuke.

"Sasuke," she cried, drawling out the boy's name, "what if someone's devastating a public property?"

"It's in the textbook," Sasuke sighed, handing her the device. "Just look it up-"

"Could you stop editing my answer?" Naruto barked.

"Then learn how to write properly," Sasuke scoffed, combing his hair with his fingers. Naruto frowned. He hated it when the boy was doing that. He was looking way too good, and seeing how uninterested in people he was, that was pretty unfair. "I'm not signing this shit with my name-"

"You don't even _care_ ," Naruto snapped.

"It's you who doesn't care, Naruto," Sakura protested. "If we left you alone, you'd make us look bad," she lectured. The blonde rested his head on the plastic tabletop. It was a disaster. It had to be some sick joke or an experiment. There was no way that they were supposed to work together. "You should be happy we were teamed up with you," she added. "You know what, Sasuke? We should just do it together, and let him sign it-"

"I'm not doing his work," the brunette objected.

"Then don't," Naruto whined. "I'm serious here, stop editing my files-"

Sasuke glared at him. Then he rolled his eyes, and returned to rewording Naruto's answer. As if it mattered. The blonde raised his head, staring at other groups. Being put together with Sasuke was terrible. He was certain that if it was just him and Sakura, they would be able to come to an agreement. Unfortunately, the girl decided to fight him. Naruto couldn't see why.

Ms. Mitarashi stood near their table, inspecting their work. She didn't look too happy about their results. Naruto smiled sheepishly at her, and returned to reading the textbook. There were some things he didn't know about, and they seemed pretty exciting. Like people hacking the augmented realities, making it impossible for people to exit them. Unfortunately, most of the crimes was solved within seconds with one push of a button - or, to be precise, two pushes - two people in a team had to agree that shutting off a person was needed. But that was to be expected as most of the crimes was being committed in the heat of a moment, and that was alerting the Net.

"Sasuke, I still can't find the fragment about devastating public properties," Sakura whined. Naruto searched through his textbook, and, after finding what Sakura had been looking for, handed it to her. She glanced at his device, looking unimpressed. "Sas-"

"He gave it to you, how much more help do you need?" Sasuke snapped at her, his eyebrows knitted together. Naruto rested his head on his hand. For a short moment he wanted to just let him continue and show how much of an asshole he really was but he couldn't stand him treating Sakura like that. "Do I have to do your share of work as well-"

"Don't be a jerk, Sasuke, it was you who made me look as if I wasn't able to even find anything in the textbook," he uttered. "Just focus on your thing, and stop messing with ours," he suggested. The boy narrowed his eyes at him.

"Then stop being so fucking useless," he sneered. Sakura blinked. She looked sad. Sasuke generally had that effect on people.

"Don't mind him," Naruto advised, leaning backwards in his chair. "He's just a dick. And you're really smart."

The girl looked away, heavily blushing. The blonde watched her in awe. She was perfect. And he couldn't blame her for crushing on Sasuke. She was neither the first nor the last person to do that. Luckily enough, most of the people was returning to their senses after some time.

Sasuke huffed at them, typing something, his arms folded. "If she was smart, she would've found the passage on her own," he said. Naruto made a face at him. Then he snorted, seeing that part of what he had said, he had also written in their report. It seemed that he wasn't so good at multitasking.

"Check your screen," Naruto laughed. The other boy fixed his black eyes on it. Then he sighed, and deleted the sentence. "And don't be mean," the blonde demanded.

"All right, you have three more minutes," the teacher informed them in a firm voice. Naruto glanced at his teammates. They weren't even half done with the task. He looked at other groups, who were apparently already finished with their work.

"We're screwed," he whispered in terror. Sakura nodded, frantically writing her answers. It seemed that she didn't need any textbooks. Naruto scratched the back of his head, trying to do as much of his as it was only possible. Even Sasuke looked stressed, as he abandoned Naruto's part, and finally focused on his own. Three minutes later they were almost done. "Well, there's no helping it now, we have to send it as it is," Naruto complained.

"If your writing style wasn't this awful, we would've been finished," Sasuke whined. The blonde smirked at him. The boy probably wasn't used to being the worst, and that was exactly what was awaiting them. Sakura looked devastated, rubbing her temples, and mumbling curses under her breath.

"If you've focused on your part instead of correcting mine, we would've been finished," Naruto disagreed with Sasuke. He could probably say that Sakura should had done hers as well but that would be counterproductive. Especially since the girl actually did finish hers.

"You're both awful," Sasuke retorted.

"Sasuke, you can't be serious," Sakura tried to protest.

"You're even worse than he is," the boy barked at her. Naruto covered his face from Sasuke to wink suggestively at Sakura. The girl didn't seem too interested in flirting with him. He sighed, and sent the file to their teacher. His future looked far less bright than he had anticipated it to be. "She is," Sasuke insisted, as if he expected Naruto to agree with him that Sakura was indeed worse than he himself was.

"You're not," the blonde assured Sakura. "I'm serious, don't listen to him," he sighed. "He'll just get you down-"

"You're annoying," she growled at the blonde. Naruto stared at her wide-eyed. He had no idea why he was the one being attacked. It seemed pretty clear that Sasuke was the true jerk. She gathered her stuff, and shoved it into her bag. Then she marched away, too agitated to bid them goodbye. Sasuke glared after her, seemingly unfazed by everything that had just happened. Naruto turned his head at him.

"You're an asshole," he stated. The brunette shrugged his shoulders. "Not everyone is able to suffer through your stupid mood swings," Naruto gritted through his teeth.

"You are," Sasuke pointed out in a flat voice. "I'm not going to tiptoe around her just because she's weak," he huffed.

Naruto massaged his temples, trying to stop himself from imploding. Sasuke was infuriating. That being said, they were forced to work together. Even if none of them liked it. He glared at the other boy, and, after a short moment of hesitation, decided to leave him alone. He had better chances at reasoning with Sakura.

* * *

Sakura frowned upon seeing the annoying blonde. He had witnessed her failure at wooing Sasuke. She had believed that such a shy and cool boy like him would feel good if he saw her as someone he needed to take care of but it seemed that she had miscalculated. Sasuke needed a strong woman, and that was what she would become.

"Hey, Sakura," Naruto greeted her, running up to her. She decided to take a stroll through the city - she didn't have an occasion to do that yesterday, and with their tight schedule, she wouldn't have too much time for it in the future. Especially when she'd have to start cramming for the rest of their classes. The girl sighed, slowing down so the boy could catch up to her. "Hey, I thought we could go on a date," he proposed with a shit eating grin on his face.

"I don't want to go on a date with you," Sakura sneered. He touched his chest, with a mock hurt expression on his face. "What do you want?" she asked.

"Well, like, if we could talk about Sasuke," he started uncertainly. The girl glanced at him. While she didn't think his opinion on the other boy was worth anything, it still was something. And she was willing to talk about Sasuke. He was absolutely dreamy.

"Yes?" she hurried him.

"As you might have already noticed, he's not too nice-"

"He was just disappointed," Sakura disagreed. "I bet he expects his teammates to be better," she stated firmly.

"Yeah, about that," the blonde laughed nervously. "He's just an asshole, all right? If he'll ever upset you, just let me know, and I'll take care of it," he offered. Sakura side-eyed him. "I mean it, I've been in high school with him, and believe me when I say he's-"

"I don't care," she barked at him. He was ruining her stroll.

New Venice was completely different from other cities. From what she had noticed, the solar panels were much better hidden, and the algae, which was responsible for keeping the oxygen levels high enough, was nicely incorporated into the buildings, somewhat resembling ivy from the past. Even the desalinators weren't as exposed. It was a truly magnificent city, an architectural wonder. Unfortunately, not every city could be built in stone. It would be too pricey.

Especially the artificial lake on which the city was located. It was just plain showing off wealth. Nobody needed this much fresh water. And in New Venice it was used as a goddamn decoration. When she had been in the city on a school trip, most of her classmates were in awe because of the way the city looked like but Sakura couldn't keep her eyes away from the lake. And it wasn't even covered in phytoplankton.

Sakura hoped she would be able to buy an apartment in there. Eyes' pay was pretty reasonable but, theoretically, they could be sent away to any other city. And all the other cities were pretty much the same.

"Sakura," Naruto whined. She turned her head at him, leveling him with her eyes. He was even shorter than she was. Not by much, just an inch or so, but the difference in height was still visible. She had always been the tall one. At least Sasuke was her equal.

"You just don't get him," she accused the boy.

"Believe me, I've tried to get him," he laughed. "It took me one year, and I just don't want you to waste your time on a lost cause," he said.

"Maybe he's just not into you," she grunted. "I don't care about your failures," she declared. He rolled his blue eyes, still smiling at her. It was irritating. People shouldn't smile this much. Especially when they were being offended.

"Fair enough," he said. "But we don't have to argue," the blonde pointed out. She stared at him, chewing on her bottom lip. That much was true.

"We can call it a truce," she offered. He pouted at her. She shrugged her shoulders. She wasn't interested in having warmer relations with the boy.

* * *

Sasuke sighed. Someone had knocked on his doors. He got up from the bed, fully aware that his mood would get even worse. There was only one person insolent enough to just randomly decide that they needed to see him, and that person was Naruto. He pushed the doors open. Then he frowned. It was even worse. The person standing in his doorway was Sakura.

"What is it?" he questioned, hoping that the girl would have a reason to disturb him.

"Um, me and my friends are going out tonight, and I thought you might be interested," she said. Sasuke glared at her.

"I'm not," he replied, ready to close his doors again. The girl's eyebrow twitched but she kept on smiling. She was just as annoying as Naruto. They were probably both high on serotonin. As if on cue, the blonde jumped into the corridor. Sasuke wondered if Naruto was going out as well. Probably yes, the boy loved wasting his time.

"I can take you out," the blonde offered the girl, leaning on the door frame in some lame attempt to look seductive. Sasuke snorted, shaking his head. It was pathetic, it was all pathetic.

"I don't want to," the girl barked at Naruto. Her expression softened when she turned back to Sasuke. "So, um, have you heard the latest news?" she questioned. The brunette frowned. He had no time for a small talk.

"...no," he answered. Naruto apparently decided he was a part of this conversation as well because he stood next to the girl, smiling at her as if she was the eighth world's wonder.

"It's all over the news," she stated in an excited voice.

"You're talking about the people with destroyed Net, right?" Naruto interrupted her. Sasuke's eyes shot open in curiosity. Now _that_ was interesting. "That's totally sick," the blonde exclaimed.

"I could tell you all about it," the girl whispered in a soft voice. "If you were to go out with me," she bargained. Sasuke glared at her. He had no wish to go out with her or anybody else. And if it was all over the news, finding all about it would be a matter of seconds. He closed his eyes, entering the Net. He searched for a news site. There it was. He opened the first article he had found-

"Sasuke, that's so fucking rude," Naruto complained. "How are we supposed to know you're not watching porn right now-"

"I don't watch porn," he sneered at the idiot, his eyes still closed.

" _Sure_ ," the blonde cackled. "Me neither," he said, audibly suppressing a laugh.

Sasuke ignored the boy for the time being, focusing on the article. It turned out that medical services were alerted of some woman's signal disappearing. When they got to the place she had been broadcasting last, no body was found. Eyes watched recordings made by people, who were present in the area when the woman disappeared, and hunted her down. She had committed suicide, so they weren't able to question her. The autopsy revealed that her Net was not functioning. At the moment Eyes were busy with watching her life, searching for the culprit. Sasuke shook his head. That was amazing. Especially since it wasn't deemed a Net malfunction, it was made on purpose.

"I guess you already know everything," Sakura sighed.

"Thank you," Sasuke replied. The girl blushed upon hearing the words.

Now his life gained a purpose. He supposed that the woman from today's news was just the beginning, and that in the future hiding one's signal disappearance would become easier. It had to. And by then, Sasuke would already become an Eye, and he would get his data almost from the source.

"You look excited," Naruto mumbled out. "Are you sure your Net is working? Maybe you're getting sick-"

"I'm fine," Sasuke interrupted him. He would have to act smart from now on. If he was to be looking too much into the case, his search history could alert the Eyes. Right now it was a hot topic, so he could read all he wanted but he would have to get much more careful later. He hoped they would be assigned this case, and that it wouldn't be over in one year, time needed for graduation. It couldn't, it had to be something big.

Even if right now it was just one person, who would probably get caught in less than a month, it could be a spark starting a revolution. Sasuke hoped others would follow the example. They had to. He needed to escape this mess.

* * *

"Way to go, Forehead Girl," Ino howled, slapping Sakura's butt. The pink-haired girl glared at her best friend, squinting her green eyes at her. She hated being called that, and the blonde was fully aware of it. "I thought you've said you'll be bringing one of your hotties here," Ino teased. "Can't say I'm surprised, though-"

"He was busy," she lied. For a short moment she regretted declining Naruto's offer. But then she remembered he would completely embarrass her, and she came to terms with her decision. "Have you heard about that woman with the destroyed Net?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

Ino nodded fiercely, leading Sakura further into the club. The music was deafening, so they had to scream to one another. Ino had talent for feeling at home pretty much everywhere. Sakura still struggled with getting used to living in the capitol. "I feel so sorry for her," Ino yelled. "Can you imagine being completely cut off?"

"No," Sakura agreed with her, swaying her hips in the rhythm of the music. It was almost completely dark in there, light was coming in short blasts, and Sakura was disappointed that her outfit wouldn't get the attention it deserved. And it was absolutely breathtaking. Her short dress was tightly embracing her figure, and she even had thighs made from hagfish slime. She had paid fortune for it, and there was nobody to admire them. "But I think she wanted to do it," Sakura blurted out. Some woman grabbed her from behind, dancing with her.

"Who would've wanted to do it to themselves?" Ino screamed back. "Without the Net your body is going to shut off, it's not like you can just log out," she cried, pulling Sakura closer. The girl nodded uncertainly. It was true that destroying the Net meant destroying oneself. It was incorporated into their organs, and at this point some people were even saying that humans were technically cyborgs. It was funny how far from the original idea of cyborgs they were, though. As if anybody wanted their artificial limbs to shoot lasers. She giggled to herself, running her hand through Ino's silky hair.

Her friend was really beautiful. Sakura leaned in closer, pecking her lips. "You're going to smear your lipstick all over my face," Ino complained into her mouth, simultaneously grabbing Sakura's butt cheek, and giving it a rough squeeze. She tasted of menthol and seaweed booze. It was the cheapest alcohol there was. Back in the days Sakura laid her hands on wine - an actual wine - and she was still certain there was nothing tastier than it. Her parents got pretty mad at her though. People didn't produce much wine now, and rumors said that the ones from before the Second Big Flood were the best. The one Sakura had opened was one of these. She had drunk just one glass but the bouquet was incredible, rich and sweet.

Sakura traced Ino's teeth with her tongue. She really liked her. It was truly a shame that they had to be separated. On the other hand, she felt much stronger about Sasuke. The boy was perfect. And he had thanked her twice already. It seemed she was on the right track.

* * *

The rainfall had been heavy this week. Sasuke was rather unhappy about it since their field classes had gotten pretty muddy because of it. And if there was something he hated more than crawling through dirt himself, it was Naruto bitching about it all the way back. He glared at the boy (who had the audacity to be quicker than him) sitting next to him. Even though they had showered, there was still some mud in the blond hair. And that was apparently a tragedy.

"What's the deal with them, I'm just going to take _another_ shower," Naruto complained. "They can't expect me to stay like this-"

"I know, right," Sakura cried, trying to comb out dirt from her pink hair with her fingers. Sasuke sighed. He didn't have any problems with getting himself clean. His teammates were acting as if taking a shower was beyond their abilities. Perhaps it really was. That was annoying. Out of all the people he could had been teamed up with, he ended up with not one but _two_ idiots. The world probably hated him. He wondered if he could be assigned to a different team. This one was clearly the loser one.

"But at least we're on a boat," the blonde exclaimed. "That's pretty exciting, isn't it? I think the last time I've been on one was when I was still a little kid," he said as if anyone was interested in his story.

"Me, too," the girl replied. "What about you, Sasuke?" she inquired, tucking a strand of pink hair behind her ear.

"Same," he muttered. He didn't see a reason for bonding with them. He just needed the two to pass the exam, and then work with him. He would be leaving them soon afterwards.

He had read everything there was on the Torn Net case, as the press decided to nickname it. Some of the students even asked the teachers some interesting questions. Sasuke didn't, he was afraid he would just call attention to him, and that was the last thing he needed. Sometimes he was wondering if his thoughts were private but they had to be - otherwise he would had ended up in space already.

Nevertheless, it was pretty promising. Eyes still didn't find the person behind this, searches brought nothing, and now they were watching the last few years of the woman's life. A whole division was doing it. That was reassuring. It meant that whoever found a way to destroy the Net, they had to be pretty skilled. And they were able to hide their identity.

"Did you travel a lot?" Sakura asked. Sasuke hnned at her. The question was pretty pointless. People practically didn't leave their cities. They had no reason to - almost all the cities were the same. The only one worth seeing was New Venice but there were limits on how many tourists it would welcome-

"Not really," Naruto admitted. "I think it's the same for Sasuke," he added. The brunette arched an eyebrow at him. He didn't need anyone to speak up for him. Especially not the moronic blonde. "But where would you want to travel?"

"Well," the girl started uncertainly. "I've heard they're planning to open some of the flooded cities for the tourists," she said. "They're cleaning them up now-"

"That seems expensive," Naruto deadpanned. "But I guess they'll be getting some resources out of it-"

"Not really," Sakura disagreed. "They need to repair the buildings, clean them up from algae... And do all of that while underwater. If there won't be any tourists, this whole enterprise will be an utter failure-"

"Well, the Core ordered it," Naruto mumbled out. "It will probably be a success-"

"The Core put _us_ together," Sasuke pointed out in a tired voice. The blonde frowned at him, visibly unhappy that his and Sakura's friendly chit chat was terminated. The brunette leaned backwards, staring at the water. It was deep blue. It was quite different from the brownish green ocean was. The Core's biggest mistake had been making Sasuke into an Eye. That was just handing him out the resources he needed. "Besides, nobody has time to travel. At least not the ones, who earn enough credits to afford it. I bet it will be-"

"Maybe their kids will do it," Naruto pointed out, interrupting Sasuke. Sakura seemed irritated by it. The brunette had no idea whether he liked the fact that she knew how to have a polite conversation or if he was annoyed at her for not understanding that it was how he and Naruto worked like. They had always been bickering, and none of them ever got seriously mad at the other for being rude. Therefore her getting angry for his sake was pointless. They didn't need this kind of drama.

"Why would they care about their kids? There are better things they could be spending their credits on," Sasuke mused. Cold wind brushed through his hair, ruffling it up.

"Well, they're their _kids_ ," Sakura stated, carefully weighing every word. "I would want my kid to see those cities," she said.

"I'd rather see them myself," the blonde said. "Like, can you imagine? All the best ones are underwater. The ones we were left with sucked balls. I'm glad the Core got rid of them," he shouted over the wind.

"They would have to take care of all the bodies first," Sasuke yelled back. "It's a cemetery down there-"

"It can't be this bad, we're harvesting seaweed in there," Naruto protested. Sasuke shrugged his shoulders. Quite a number of people died during the floods and afterwards. The land, water and food was scarce, and if it wasn't for the Core, the humanity would probably exterminate itself. Unfortunately, its dependence on the Core didn't end when it should had.

"It's genetically modified, so it doesn't really say much about the state of the ocean. I mean, the fishes have gotten much smaller. But that could be because of the temperature," Sakura wondered. Whenever she wasn't trying to get Sasuke's attention, she sounded smart. "For all we know, it might really be a cemetery down there-"

"There's over five billion bodies in there, it is a cemetery," Sasuke muttered. They should probably consider themselves lucky for being born but Sasuke was almost jealous of the dead ones. At least they had been free when they were still alive.

"Well, now they're more like skeletons than bodies," Naruto mused, leaning over the barrier. Sasuke grabbed the back of his shirt to keep him from falling out. If he was to do it, they would have to waste time on rescuing him. And he didn't feel like getting wet again. "I know how to swim," the blonde whined. "Stop treating me like an idiot," he demanded.

"Stop acting like an idiot, and I won't have to treat you like one," Sasuke grunted, his hand fisting into the other boy's shirt. His back was warm from sun, his shirt had salt and mud stains. He smelled like sea. Sasuke exhaled, taking his hand away. He had forgotten how much of an impact the moron had on him. He had no idea why the Core would want him to mingle with the blonde, this kind of union was unneeded at best, and absolutely pointless at worst.

"What, are you having a heatstroke?" Naruto inquired, getting closer to him. Sasuke shoved the boy away, and got up to take a seat next to Sakura. It was much safer.

"No," Sasuke retorted. "You stink," he added. The blonde made a face at him, and smelled his armpit. Then he shrugged his shoulders, apparently deciding that the smell wasn't this bad, and lay on the bench, using his folded arms as a pillow. His shirt rolled up, revealing his tanned stomach. Sasuke closed his eyes, and entered the augmented reality. He didn't need any distractions.

* * *

Naruto shifted in his seat, his body barely able to contain his excitement. Today they were going to see Eyes at work. He glanced around the room they were in, taking in the view.

This one was the emergency room. Teams of three were watching the same recording on three separate screens, and deciding whether a person needed to be shut down or if a regular intervention would suffice. Shutting someone down was a huge deal - it was causing the nanobots to release an electric shock, which would force the criminal to lose their consciousness, and a toxin, which ensured that the criminal would remain pacified until the police would come to collect them. The electric shock could potentially harm the Net, and the toxin would sometimes cause long-lasting damages to the body. That was why Eyes had to be incredibly careful and thoughtful.

In the previous room Eyes were making a selection. This could be done only by the most experienced ones but the rules were different. Eyes were using their Net for that so it was far interesting to observe but Mr. Hatake explained to the class that the Eyes were watching recordings, which alerted the Core. It had something to do with stress hormones, pain levels, and other boring stuff Naruto didn't bother with remembering. Eyes had very little time to decide if the situation could need an intervention or not. And then there was the final decision.

Naruto stared at the Eyes from behind a thick see-through plastic wall, his nose almost glued to it to see what was happening on the screen. The first footage was a false alarm - some couple was just engaged in a pretty BDSM sex. The other video, however, looked promising. Two men were arguing - Naruto couldn't make up what it was despite his best efforts - and the argument was broadcast from both points of view. That was pretty exciting. The quarrel seemed like a pretty heated one, one of the men even destroyed a lamp.

"They should stop him," Sakura mumbled out, sounding terrified. "He's going to hurt the other guy-"

"He didn't do it yet," Sasuke disagreed, his voice strained. Naruto mentally agreed with him. There was almost always time to shut someone down. Some Eyes were known to stop people mid-blow.

Naruto watched in horror as one of the men swung at the other one. He hoped he would see some quick reflexes but the man's fist connected with the other's jaw. The blonde whistled, feeling sorry for the victim. The hit looked rather painful. In the meantime, the criminal was shut down. His screen went black. Naruto was kind of disappointed that he wouldn't get to see what would happen next. Then he remembered of the other guy's broadcast. He looked at the other's screen. The criminal looked as if he had a seizure. Naruto frowned. That wasn't a pleasant view. He turned at his teammates. To his surprise, they were both paler than usually.

"What's going to happen to him?" Sakura asked in a quiet voice. Mr. Hatake hummed under his nose. It seemed that he had been spacing out for quite some time now.

"It was an assault without a weapon, yes?" he questioned. Sakura nodded, and he continued. "If that's his first offense, then he'll pay a fine, and that will be the end of it. If it's the second, he'll be sent away," Mr. Hatake explained.

They all knew what being sent away meant. Naruto turned his head back to the Eyes. One team was dispatched to take care of the latest case while other returned to scavenging for law breakers. The blonde huffed in disappointment. It seemed pretty boring. He jumped in his spot when he heard Sakura's hushed voice.

"We're leaving," she informed him. He looked at her, wondering what was wrong. Then he noticed Sasuke. The boy was heaving, visibly having trouble breathing. Naruto got to his knees, and grabbed the brunette's shoulders. Sakura was massaging his back in a reassuring manner but that didn't seem to work. Mr. Hatake stared at them, looking bored.

"You're not going anywhere, you're staying here with us," Naruto told the other boy. That didn't calm him down as well. The blonde sighed, and practically forced Sasuke to stand up. They couldn't stay there. Together with Sakura, they led him out into the corridor, and sat him on the floor. Naruto squatted in front of him, cupping his face, and making the brunette look him into eyes. "Hey, breath with me," Naruto ordered.

"Why is he like this?" Sakura inquired. She had to be really worried.

"He was shut down before," Naruto explained. She probably wanted to know more but that wasn't needed. He made some exaggerated breaths, hoping that Sasuke would follow his example. The fear of being shut down was programmed into everybody but it was the strongest in those, who had already experienced it.

"Leave me alone," Sasuke grunted after a longer while. The blonde backed out, grinning at him. The boy was himself again.

"Do you want to come back?" Sakura asked in a soft voice. The brunette glared daggers at her. He wasn't a grateful type. Naruto rolled his eyes, patting the other boy on his head.

"You need to get used to this," he said. Sasuke squinted at him, his lips pursed together, his eyebrows furrowed. "Don't be pissed off, it's not like it's our fault," Naruto sighed.

"Get lost," the boy barked, standing up. He was still green in the face but it seemed that he was able to fight off the nausea. "Let's go back," he mumbled out. Sakura ran up to him, embracing his arm with her own. To Naruto's surprise, the boy didn't do anything to free himself. He had to be really out of himself. The blonde shook his head, suppressing a chuckle, and followed them back into the room. He hoped that Sasuke would overcome his issues.

* * *

Sakura was absentmindedly recording the lecture, simultaneously making notes. The teacher was explaining some of the more complicated procedures in a dull voice but Sakura was unable to focus. She was concerned about Sasuke. The boy was quieter than before.

Naruto had said that Sasuke had been shut down but he didn't say _how_ it happened. That was worrying. Theoretically, Sasuke shouldn't be there with them. The Core's decisions seemed more and more random. She had no idea how Sasuke would manage dealing with shutting people down on a daily basis.

Eyes were known to have a high resistance to psychological traumas. They had to brush everything off to remain sane. That was just one among many other required traits, of course. Eyes were also supposed to be physically fit, have a talent for solving crimes that couldn't be dealt with immediately, and, what was most important, they had to be empathetic to other people's suffering.

Those, who were physically violent, were dealt with almost on spot. The colonies in the solar system were full of them, although lately there had been a wave of suicides among the convicts. Sakura supposed it was due to the fact that they were so far away from the Core. Their Nets probably weren't functioning properly - perhaps the signal was too weak - and that was why they were ending up depressed. She tapped her fingers on the tabletop. Everything seemed much more complicated than she had anticipated.

She caught Naruto glancing at Sasuke. The blonde was probably worried as well, even if he was trying to hide it. Sakura had no idea whether he was doing it out of respect for the other boy or if he was just embarrassed but she had noticed that Sasuke wasn't responding too well to them trying to take care of him. The attitude of the people from other teams didn't help, too. When she and her team had returned to the room, some of them were giggling. And then Naruto started babbling about some sea fruit dish Sasuke shouldn't had eaten. Sakura was strangely thankful for it. Their team needed to solve its issues on its own.

She was also slowly starting to realize that Naruto wasn't a complete idiot. He could be pretty considerate if he wanted to. And it was clear that if somebody else took his place, reaching out to Sasuke would be even more difficult. Sakura drew in a shaky breath. Her job was to make sure that they would all work together without any major issues. Naruto was still himself, and that meant being utterly oblivious to other people's needs.

* * *

Sasuke sighed, leveling his team with his eyes. They were in a gym, having a martial arts classes. Their teacher, Maito Gai, an overexcited man in his early forties, decided to finally let them spar among each other. And it seemed that Sakura had a talent for punching people. She had just sent another student flying through the room, what earned her an appreciative howl from Naruto.

"She's awesome," the blonde exclaimed.

"You should focus on _your_ opponent," Sasuke complained, smacking him in the head.

The blonde pouted at him before getting into the fighting stance again. Sasuke shook his head. There was way too many openings. He charged at the moron, kicking him in the stomach, and pinning him to the ground before he could even protest. The blonde narrowed his blue eyes at him, looking annoyed. Sasuke smirked. After his failure from a week ago, proving to himself that he wasn't a complete mess was exactly what he needed.

"I wasn't ready yet," Naruto whined, shifting under him. Sasuke got up, letting the other boy rise to his feet as well. His breathing was heavier but so was Naruto's. "Now I'm going to kick your ass," the blonde threatened, trying to attack Sasuke.

The brunette swiftly jumped sideways, letting the other boy ram into the wall. It was too simple. "You didn't," he said, blocking Naruto's fist. He could defeat the boy in mere seconds if he wanted to - his moves were uncoordinated, sloppy and predictable. It was a real shame because Naruto had some potential - he was strong and fast. Sasuke hadn't expected him to be this hopeless.

He had to however admit that the true martial artist of them three was Sakura. The girl was unexpectedly muscular, her hand was quite heavy, her moves were swift and deadly accurate. Sasuke didn't like fighting against her because she was going soft on him. He hated it. It was her saying he didn't stand a chance against her. At least the moron _was_ trying to win. The brunette sighed, evading another blow. He didn't like people not treating him seriously, and that was exactly what Sakura had been doing ever since that incident. It was just a stupid moment of weakness but the girl was acting all mother-henly around him. She even cut his apple yesterday. As if he wasn't able to eat a goddamn fruit on his own. It was annoying.

* * *

Naruto fiddled his fingers, feeling nervous. Then he inhaled deeply, and knocked on Sakura's doors. The girl opened them, and every sign of excitement disappeared from her face.

"I don't want to ask you out," he blurted out. The girl glared at him, and Naruto mentally slapped himself across the face. That was a terrible thing to say. "I mean I still want it," he corrected himself. "But that's not why I came here," he babbled. He needed to get down to business as fast as possible or he would embarrass himself. "I would like you to train with me," he said. "So I'd be able to beat up Sasuke," he laughed. "I can see he's getting bored-"

"Naruto, I don't mind helping you," the girl replied. "But I don't think that beating him up is such a good idea," she whispered. The blonde tilted his head. That didn't make much sense. "He'll get upset-"

"He won't get upset," Naruto replied. "I mean, well, at first he'll be mad but he'll recover," he murmured. "He needs a challenge every now and then, you know, to keep his mind off, well-"

"Keep my mind off what?" a voice hissed. Naruto turned towards it, hoping that Sasuke wouldn't be as pissed off as he expected him to be. Unfortunately, it exceeded his expectations.

"You know," Naruto drawled, trying to come up with something else than that-one-time-you-had-a-panic-attack. "Your _thing_ ," he said, giving up.

"Sasuke, what are you doing here?" Sakura asked, shoving Naruto away. Her smile looked fake. The blonde rubbed the back of his head. The question was actually pretty good. If Sasuke was there, then it meant that he was seeking out Sakura. There was no other explanation.

"My _thing_ ," Sasuke repeated. Naruto forced a grin on his face. He wondered if Eyes were already watching them. He hoped not.

"Let's spar," he suggested in a carefree tone. "All three of us. I need to train, you need to let out some steam, and Sakura is the best opponent there is, so, like, it's a perfect plan," he said. The brunette narrowed his eyes at him. Probably the promise of being able to punch others was what made it sound worthwhile to him.

"Fine," he agreed.

Sakura still looked confused. Naruto leaned towards her. "Don't go soft on him," he advised. The girl gazed at him, visibly trying to make sense of what had just happened. Then she slowly nodded her head. Naruto smiled at her. It was good that she was more trusting now. That was what they needed to make everything work.

* * *

 **A/N: some of you might remember this story - I wanted it to be an ot3 but I've gotten so much hate because of it that I've decided to return to what I know best - it's a pure SNS now. There will still be some NS and, yes, I know, omg, SS. But there will be far less of it. And there won't be any threesome smut. EH. I guess I'll just write the smut and upload it as a PWP. I've never written a PWP before because I actually really like having a plot but oh well :D**

 **At first this chapter was three different ones, and I guess you can see where the cuts should have been but oh well. I've decided to make the chapters longer - 10k words each. And I'm going to write it, and I promise I won't delete it again.  
**


	2. Chapter 2

"Itachi?"

Itachi turned his head at his assistant, a quite brilliant young woman. To his surprise, she kept on addressing him with his first name, and not with the title. Itachi didn't mind it. There was enough people calling him a doctor.

"What is it?" he asked. She had been assigned to him just three weeks ago but it was clear that she was a fast learner. And she didn't have any trouble with asking questions if she didn't know something. It was a good quality to have. That was why Itachi had allowed her to roam the lab unsupervised a week ago.

They were working on adapting the flooded cities, so it would be possible for tourists to see them. It was a pleasant project. Leisurely one. The first city was fairly close to the shore. The biggest challenge was creating areas where the tourists could take off their diving suits, and walk through the city. Itachi and his team were supposed to design domes filled with air. And decompressing stations. It was lots of work but it wasn't too difficult.

Itachi's assistant, Yamanaka Ino, was given some of the easier tasks. After all, she was there to learn. At first Itachi thought she was a total wild child - she would come hungover to work on more than just one occasion - but then he saw Kisame's student, Suigetsu, and Itachi realized that Ino was perfectly fine. She wasn't slacking off, and she was more than capable.

"I was creating a vacuum in a traditional way for reference, and...," she paused, tapping her fingers on the desktop - probably a sign of nervousness. "And, um, is there a possibility that our meters are broken?" she questioned. Itachi arched an eyebrow.

"Why? Is something wrong?" he asked, simultaneously checking the meter. For the past ten years oxygen content in the air was 19%. Itachi and many other scientists thought it was already stabilized. Especially since the Core was taking care of it. Itachi breathed in to calm his mind. Nothing changed, the oxygen level was still 19%. He sent a scolding look to his lab assistant. The girl bit her bottom lip.

"So... I lit a match," she started uncertainly. Itachi sighed. Kids loved wasting precious resources. "But the match, um, only the head burnt. The flame didn't move to the wood-"

"It could've been a coincidence," he replied, massaging his temples. Letting Ino do anything without his supervision will cost him a lot. He won't get enough funds in the next year if people will think he was wasting the money.

"Yeah, I thought so too. At first," she mumbled out. Itachi glared at her. Did she waste more? "But then I lit another one, and the same thing happened. And again... And again," she whispered. She looked worried.

"The Core says everything's in order," he stated knowingly. "If it says so, then everything's fine. You shouldn't have done that-"

"...I contacted a museum, and asked them to do a gas chromatography for me. On an instrument that wasn't connected to the Core," she continued. "They said that it was 16%," she blurted out. "I couldn't believe this so I conducted the experiment with the candle and water, and... Itachi, we have 16% of oxygen in the air. And the Core claims it's 19," she concluded.

Itachi's face paled. Perhaps it was because of the phytoplankton. He noticed that the ocean was practically covered with it. There was an algal bloom. Maybe cyanobacteria was to blame. "I wouldn't worry too much about it," Itachi told Ino. He didn't want to bother her. Perhaps the meters were damaged. He would have to consult Kisame, an oceanologist. He should be able to tell him more. "But we're going to keep a close watch on it," he added to assure the girl that everything was under control.

* * *

Sakura inhaled deeply, trying to calm her racing heart. She was warming up for the fight, observing Sasuke out of the corner of her eye. The boy was glaring both at her and the blonde hatefully. He was probably still angry about what he had overheard. It was all Naruto's fault. Like always. And now Naruto wanted her to not hold back against Sasuke. She wasn't certain whether the idea was a good one. It was true that Naruto knew Sasuke longer than she did but the boys didn't like one another, so the advice wasn't foolproof. Or perhaps he wanted to keep Sasuke for himself by making the boy hate her. After all, Naruto did say that he used to have a thing for Sasuke. Maybe he was lying when he was using past tense. And now he was trying to fool her by pretending he wanted to date _her_. Sakura huffed in annoyance. If that was Naruto's plan, then he failed. She stretched her long legs, preparing herself for the spar. The boys were already done with warming up.

From what she had seen, Sasuke was much better than Naruto. The brunette was fast, agile and strong. And it seemed that he didn't make any unnecessary moves. He was precise and deadly. His only fallback was a rather weak block. Apparently he was more used to evading punches. Naruto, on the other hand, had only fallbacks. He was chaotic, his attacks were all wrong, and his defense was nonexistent. Sakura had no idea how he managed to become an Eye. Perhaps he had some deeply hidden talent she didn't see yet. Or, what seemed more and more possible with every passing day, the Core made a mistake.

"How much longer do you need?" Sasuke sneered at her. Naruto smacked the other boy on the shoulder.

"You're being mean. It was really nice of Sakura to come here with us-"

"I'm honored," the brunette muttered. He didn't sound honored. The girl bit her bottom lip. She didn't want it to look like _this_.

"We're a team," she mumbled out. "It's not like you're bothering me or anything," she assured her teammates. Naruto grinned at her. Sasuke frowned, looking offended. Sakura mentally scolded herself. She just made everything worse. "Um, how do you want to do it?"

"Fast," Sasuke grunted, folding his arms. "I don't have all day-"

"I was thinking we could just take turns? Like, for example, me and Sasuke would go first, and then the winner would fight you, and then the winner would fight me," Naruto babbled, interrupting the other boy. Sasuke shrugged his shoulders. It seemed that he didn't mind such solution.

Sakura observed their training. On one hand, it was kind of boring since she already knew who the winner would be. On the other hand, watching Sasuke was always a pleasure. She noticed that she wasn't the only audience - on the other side of the gym, three people, two boys and one girl, were also watching it. And it was rather clear that they were laughing at Naruto. Sakura bit her bottom lip. She didn't like it. True, the blonde was hopeless but it was still rather mean.

A loud thump cut her musings short. She glanced at her teammates, seeing Naruto lying on the floor with Sasuke straddling him. He looked as if he was about to punch the blonde, who appeared to be in pain. She rose to her feet, ready to stop their fight but, to her surprise, Naruto was able to free himself on his own. And now he was on top of the other boy, pinning his arms down.

"What is wrong with you?!" Naruto snarled. His cheek was slowly swelling up.

Sasuke opened his mouth, visibly ready to answer the question but he was interrupted by a rude laughter. He turned his head towards the source of the noise, glaring daggers at the three couldn't place their faces. And that was weird. Their group at the academy had thirty members, and, since their course would last only one year, the three couldn't be students. But they looked too young to be teachers.

"You have to suck really bad if someone this pathetic is able to pacify you," a boy said loud enough for the whole gym to hear him. Sakura narrowed her green eyes at him. Now she was absolutely certain she hated his guts.

"I don't suck," Naruto protested. "And Sasuke isn't pathetic," he added. The brunette underneath him sighed.

"He wasn't talking to you, idiot," Sakura informed the boy.

"Standards must have fallen pretty low if they took you two here," the stranger said.

"Poor kids," the girl cooed. She looked genuinely worried. "This place isn't for you-"

"If I had a choice, I wouldn't be here," Sasuke snapped. He shoved the disoriented blonde away, and stood up. Sakura approached her teammates, resting her hand on her hip. She wanted the strangers to leave them alone. It was the first time she and Sasuke were spending time together after classes, and she didn't want it to be ruined. Sasuke stared at her questioningly. "He won," the boy said, pointing to Naruto, who was fuming at him from the ground level.

"Like, who are you guys?" Naruto asked, getting up and rubbing his swollen cheek. "Should you even be here?"

"Worry not, young friend. We're Eyes," the other boy, the one, who hadn't said anything up till now, exclaimed. "We came here to meet our former teacher but he's busy at the moment, so we decided to see if anything has changed. Please, forgive my dear friends' rudeness, you're all very promising students," he added.

"Wow, so you're already working," Naruto shouted, looking way too excited for Sakura's liking. Sasuke was frowning. "How is it?!"

"Don't get your hopes up, Lee thinks _everyone_ is promising," the jerk stated, crossing his arms.

"Piss off already," Sakura growled.

"Leave them be, Sakura, it's pointless," Sasuke sighed. "Have your fight with Naruto, I don't have all day," he complained, marching towards the benches. The girl bit the insides of her cheeks, watching him go away. The boy sat down, and closed his eyes. It seemed he entered the augmented reality again. She wished he paid her more attention. Perhaps then she wouldn't feel as lonely.

Naruto was already in the fighting stance. Sakura glared at him, noting countless errors. She had no idea what Naruto was doing there. For a short moment she pondered over the possibility of correcting him - after all, he did ask her for some tips - but one of the Eyes was quicker. He got to the blonde faster than Sakura thought he would be able to, and fixed the boy's stance, whispering something into his ear. Naruto nodded fiercely, apparently believing that this time he stood any chance against his opponent. The girl drew in an exaggerated breath. It was stupid.

She waited for Naruto to charge at her like he always did, ready to kick him back. She wasn't disappointed. The boy ran towards her, and she shifted her weight to the left leg. He wouldn't be able to evade nor block her. A foolproof attack. Sakura threw her right leg forward, aiming for Naruto's ankle to knock him down. Suddenly, she lost her balance. The boy changed the trajectory, and was able to get behind her back. In the meanwhile, she struggled with coming back to the stance - she had used too much force, and when her foot met thin air, and not the solid surface of Naruto's leg, she almost tripped. The boy shot her a goofy smile. Sakura frowned at him, and swung her arm to grab Naruto's collar. This time he wasn't able to escape her. Seconds later he landed on the floor with a loud thump.

"I won," she stated loud enough for Sasuke to hear her. She looked in his direction. He opened his charming black eyes, looking bored. The girl sighed in resignation. It seemed that her fighting skills didn't impress him.

"Sasuke, it's your turn," Naruto shouted. The brunette got up from his seat and approached them.

"If you weren't this stupid, I would've thought you didn't want me to rest," he said in a mocking tone. The blonde pouted at him, calling him a total jerk. Sakura glanced at the Eyes. They were still observing them. She turned her head towards her teammates. She wished Naruto didn't embarrass them as much. It wouldn't be like this if it was just her and Sasuke.

"...are you ready? We can take a break if you want to," she offered. And, once again, Sasuke looked offended. Maybe he didn't like kind girls. She generally had no idea as to what kind of girls Sasuke liked. According to Naruto, he didn't like anybody. Sakura bit her bottom lip. Now she has to decide whether she should let Sasuke win.

On one hand, Naruto had been probably right when he claimed that Sasuke wanted to be treated seriously. On the other, it was possible that he would feel humiliated if she was better than him.

"Are you going to attack me or not?" Sasuke inquired. He didn't take a fighting stance. He simply stood there. With Naruto lying at his feet and still cursing him.

"Why don't _you_ attack _her_?" the blonde fumed. "Like, seriously, show some initiative," he blabbered. "Sakura's going to kick your ass-"

"I'm _not_ ," the girl protested before she could stop herself. Sasuke tilted his head.

"Then I don't have time for this," he decided, turning on his heel and walking away. Naruto looked disappointed with Sakura. As if he had the right to feel like this.

"Wait, that's not what I wanted to say," Sakura cried, hoping that her dream boy would stop. He didn't.

"Don't beat yourself up," the blonde sighed, resting his head on the floor. He didn't look as agitated anymore. Was he acting before? "Don't worry. Like, he's going to forget it by the evening," he promised.

"Will he?" she asked, her heart heavy with worry. Naruto didn't answer. Sakura felt like crying. Did she just lose her chance? And wasn't it Naruto's fault again? She simply didn't like how the blonde was addressing Sasuke, and... The girl unclenched her fists. It wasn't Naruto's fault. It was never his fault.

"Stop feeling sorry for him," the boy whispered. "It might not be the easiest thing to do but that's what we need," he advised. "Look, he sucks at teamwork. And I doubt that he will ever vote for a shut down," he whined, scratching his cheek. "I still don't get him," he admitted. "Sometimes I think he's onto something, and then I think that he simply likes being miserable... Honestly, I really don't get him. But I _know_ that he hates pity."

Sakura sighed. She could use some pity right now.

* * *

Orochimaru hummed under his nose. It was a nice chilly evening, and he finally had something to do. He was kept on the Moon for gods knew how long, and it was nothing but a bore. Really. The prisoners in his camp were fairly healthy, well fed, and if they were dying, it was because of an old age. Orochimaru felt useless. At first he liked it. He was able to conduct his own research. But, after some years, he was forbidden to use the prisoners as test subjects; the Core decided that the people of Earth should know how their colonies were faring, and, apparently, tests on humans would be a bad PR. Ever since that fateful day, Orochimaru was bored.

But lately there was a wave of suicides, and that was definitely interesting. The prisoners were quite creative when it came to taking their lives. Every night, Orochimaru had a riddle or two to solve. It was entertaining. Especially if one was interested in the cause. Nothing's really changed when it came to the colony. It was a time of perfectly dead stillness. And yet the prisoners' hormone levels were out of control. Even drugs couldn't help them - but, to be reasonable - perhaps it was happening too fast, and drugs weren't working _yet_. Maybe it was a suicide pandemia. History knew cases like this one. One suicide would trigger another ones. Like domino

Orochimaru had studied the first suicide, playing a detective. To his disappointment, it was just as plain and boring, as it could get. A man in his fifties, hung himself on the door knob. Autopsy revealed that his Net was in a rather bad condition. Orochimaru assumed that the body wasn't able to support the Net anymore, hence the suicide. It was a rare occurrence but it wasn't unheard of. Usually, a body would be destroyed before the mind. Not that it mattered.

But the body lying in front of Orochimaru right now was far more interesting. The woman didn't kill herself. And she was an adolescent. Her medical records showed that she was extremely healthy. The cause of death was unknown.

"Well, not for very long," Orochimaru murmured, studying her face. Veins on her forehead were highly visible. As if she suffocated. She smelled just like a dead body should smell, and there was no sign of poisoning. Still, some toxins were harder to detect. Although, it shouldn't be like this. The Core usually knew the cause of death. A medical report would be mailed to a pathologist, and all the doctor had to do was signing it. Now there was nothing. In the prison colonies, there was just one medic for a camp. Orochimaru wasn't even a pathologist. He should be busy with treating cold and flu. He didn't have a proper equipment. Orochimaru swallowed a curse. He had no idea as to why he was be sent to the Moon. He could had been brilliant.

Some prisoners were saying that the Core abandoned them, and no longer took any interest in them. Well, if that was the case, then it would only mean that the Core began to act logically. Orochimaru could never see the point of space prisons. Unless the prisoners _were_ test subjects.

"Maybe the Core wanted to see how humans fare outside of Earth," he mused, feeling the woman's limbs. They were cold and stiff. Just like they should be. There was livor mortis on her back. Well, that was to be expected. The body was laid on the bed minutes after death. It was no surprise that the blood moved there.

"...excuse me?" Kabuto mumbled out. He was Orochimaru's assistant. One of the prisoners. One of the smart ones. Being on the Moon had its good sides. Orochimaru was choosing his workers as he wished.

"Just thinking out loud," Orochimaru replied. Kabuto admired him a lot. Or he acted as if he did. One way or another, this alone proved that he was smart. "There was no report," Orochimaru informed his assistant.

"...that's weird," Kabuto admitted. He had no prior medical training but it didn't matter. Orochimaru considered himself a great teacher. "But what it has to do with the Core, master?"

Ahh, yes. Another one of Kabuto's many good qualities. He saw Orochimaru as a master medic. The greatest of them all. And, frankly, he made Orochimaru feel as if it was true.

"If the Core really did abandon us," Orochimaru started, inspecting the girl's mouth, "then it just shows that this whole enterprise was rather pointless. The mines here don't have too much to offer. I've always believed that it couldn't be profitable," he laughed. "But, then again, the Core is never wrong," he pointed out, checking the girl's eyes. "And that means that the purpose was different. The one it told the public was to have work force for the mines, and to remove bad elements from the society," he explained. He didn't bother himself with apologizing to Kabuto. He knew he didn't have to do that. This is why he liked him. "But the actual plan was to check if living here would be possible. There was no data before. Now there is. Obviously, if the Core was to exterminate the prisoners, there would be an uproar," Orochimaru sighed. The girl looked more or less healthy. Apart from the fact that she was dead, of course. "Our society's gone soft," he complained. "Nevertheless, if prisoners were to kill themselves, it would just be sad news," he concluded.

"This girl didn't kill herself," Kabuto pointed out.

"This one could be unrelated," Orochimaru replied. "Or the Core has a new science project," he chuckled. "Throwing away this many good test subjects would be a waste, don't you think?"

"I believe you're right, Master," Kabuto agreed. "What would this new science project be?" he inquired politely. Orochimaru hummed in pleasure. This he had to find out. And that was exciting.

* * *

"Sasuke, you're being a total asshole," Naruto complained, plopping next to the boy. His eyes were closed. He was probably in the augmented reality again. That was stupid. There were so many exciting things going on right now, and Sasuke was doing... Actually, Naruto had no idea what Sasuke was doing.

"I'm just sitting here," the boy barked at him.

"I'm talking about before," the blonde clarified. Sasuke didn't seem to care. "What are you doing?"

"Sitting here, I've already told you," he replied.

"No, I mean the app," Naruto whined. Today, Sasuke was more difficult than usually. Maybe it was some kind of holiday. Maybe he was bloated. Naruto couldn't tell. "What does it do?"

"...it's just a garden," the boy said. The blonde tilted his head. That wasn't your usual kind of boring. This one was probably _designed_ to be boring.

"Sounds cool," he lied. "You were mean to Sakura," he tried again.

"It's her fault," Sasuke grunted. At least he admitted he had been nasty. That was _something_. The brunette closed his eyes again.

"One day, you won't be able to turn it off," Naruto muttered. He clapped his hands, realizing something. Some years ago there was a case just as loud as the Torn Net. People were being locked in augmented realities. This was one of the few cases, in which an actual detective work had to be done. "The Core doesn't get alarmed if you're in an augmented reality," he exclaimed, proud of himself.

"So?" Sasuke questioned.

"Like, you know, when people couldn't leave the augmented reality... The proprietor cheated the Core by making it seem as if he was in an augmented reality himself," he blabbered. "Maybe the Torn Net person does the same-"

"I doubt it," Sasuke decided. He glared at Naruto as if he personally offended him. Perhaps he really didn't want to be talked to. "Besides, I bet they've already thought about it-"

"So what if they have? They still can't check it," Naruto mumbled out. It was just a theory he thought of a second ago, and Sasuke already wanted to destroy it. The blonde huffed in annoyance. Sasuke was no fun.

When Naruto's mother heard that he was going to class with him, she ordered her son to be nice. Apparently she had used to be friends with Sasuke's mom. Sometimes Naruto wished Sasuke's mom told him the same. He felt awful about it but he was actually thankful that their mothers weren't friends anymore. At least they didn't have to see one another aside from school... and now he would also have to add work to the list. He would have to see Sasuke everyday for the rest of his life. And the odds were that he would become even more of an asshole than he already was.

"She's just worried about you," Naruto said after a longer pause. Maybe there was some good left in Sasuke. Maybe it just needed nurturing. "You can't blame her for that. You're our teammate, and if something affects you, it affects us too," he stated in his best lecturing tone. Sasuke didn't even open his eyes.

"I don't care," the boy finally replied. The blonde realized that Sasuke was a hopeless case. "It's your problem, not mine-"

"I'm going to have you checked," Naruto snapped. "They're going to fix you-"

"I'm not broken," Sasuke growled, his cheeks red. He looked pissed off. Well, so was Naruto.

"How d'you know that?" he questioned in a half voice. Sasuke glared back at him, as if he wasn't able to believe that he was asked such question. "I bet you didn't get yourself checked-"

"If there's something interfering with the communication between me and the Core, the better for me," he growled. "I don't want this bond to exist, just try to fucking understand this," he shouted. A vein popped on his forehead. Other people in the buffet stared at them, probably hoping for a new gossip topic. Sasuke might had acted as if he didn't care about attention but he was making one scene after another. "I'm perfectly fine-"

"You don't look fine," the blonde retorted. Sasuke really didn't seem fine. His movements were erratic, his hair - too long for Naruto's liking - a mess. And then there were his eyes. Bloodshot and hurting. "Honestly, you look as if haven't slept in ages, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong with me," the boy snarled. Naruto pondered over his options. Reasoning with Sasuke was impossible. Telling on him wouldn't solve the issue either. If Naruto was to do that, he would have to forget about having any kind of relations with Sasuke. And he was pretty much forced to have one. The blonde sighed. Why was the Core trying him?

"Whatever you say," he relented, resting his head on his hands. He should talk with Sakura but the girl would probably just launch her super mother hen mode, and that was the last thing they needed. The person Naruto _should_ ask about it would be Hatake Kakashi but the man proved himself to be rather disinterested and worthless as anything but a guide. The blonde rubbed his forehead. Then he clapped his hands. His mother. His mom would know what to do. She always did. "I'm going back to my room," Naruto informed the other boy. He could swear that Sasuke rolled his closed eyes. The blonde refrained himself from throwing a crumpled napkin at him, and got up from the buffet chair.

Perhaps Sasuke would become more bearable soon. Maybe they would even become friends. Of course, this wouldn't happen immediately, no, first Sasuke would have to acknowledge Naruto as his superior. But _afterwards_ , when they would have the rivalry thing out of their way... Maybe not everything was lost. Naruto grinned at his soon-to-be-friend, who probably had no idea of what happened, and darted out from the buffet. Life was great.

* * *

Orochimaru inserted a piece of the girl's lung into the microscope, and studied the image, which appeared on the screen. He smiled to himself, taking notes. The girl died of suffocation. This alone wouldn't be weird but, according to the recording, there was nothing that could had caused it. Nothing was obstructing the airflow. The suffocation happened on the cellular level. The girl's medical history was an exemplary one. There was nothing that was killing her. Nothing but the Core.

He put it in his report, tapping his fingers on the desktop. He would have to send it to the Earth Medical Centre. Kabuto stood behind him, visibly terrified. Well, Orochimaru had to admit that his assistant had reasons to be worried. The Core was everywhere. It was inside of their bodies. It could kill all humanity on spot.

"The Core was programmed to secure the survival of humanity, preferably with as few victims as possible," Orochimaru told his shaking assistant, closing his eyes and entering the Net. "It's not going to kill us all," he laughed. "But that's still interesting," he admitted, hitting a send button.

Then Orochimaru saw something he thought of as a thing of the past. He cackled in satisfaction. That was _very_ interesting. He smiled at the message, which appeared in front of his eyes.

"Connection failed."

* * *

 **A/N: Yeah, yeah, I wanted the chapters to be ~10k words long but HOLY SHIT do you know how difficult it is :D? and this ending right here seemed perfect, like, I wouldn't be able to top that in just 5k more words... :D Sooo... yeah, we're going back to 5k words/chapter system. It's good, it's working, and if something isn't broken, then there's no reason to fix it. Also - reading 5k words long chapter is much nicer. See, I care about you.**

 **(I really do, there's so few of you 3)**

 **And if you want me to be super happy, leave a review ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

Naruto jumped on his bed, closing his eyes mid fall. When his body touched the mattress, he was already in the Net. He opened the communication app, and smiled to himself, studying his awesome avatar. Well, if he was to contact his mom, he should probably change it to the default one - which was a carbon copy of him; his mom probably would die of laughter if she was to see the giant fox he had created for himself to contact his friends. Naruto snickered, changing the animal to himself.

He really liked the app. It was quite neat since the avatars could interact with one another. And that meant hugs and kisses for people in long distance relationships. And sex. Naruto was a huge fan of cyber sex. There were so many customization options that it was a dream come true. And it was much better than the actual porn. The only problem was that the person on the other end could be someone completely different. At least they were all over eighteen years old. Kids could only add people they knew personally to their contact lists or people their age, and their interaction options were rather limited.

The blonde remembered the friend request he had sent to Sakura some time ago. It was still pending. He frowned. It sucked. She must had seen it by now, and yet... Naruto sighed. He felt a little bit sorry for himself but, then again, there was nothing he could do about it. Maybe one day she would change her mind. After all, they were going to work together. His avatar grinned at him. Naruto smiled back, and called his mom.

He suppressed a chuckle when he saw her hair. She looked like a very fiery medusa. It was probably an animation she made for herself since he had never seen it before. His mom was a game developer, and, well, it had lots of benefits.

"Naruto, you were supposed to call me three weeks ago," she complained. The blonde ignored her scolding tone, and hugged her tightly. Her features softened as she ruffled his hair. "I hope you didn't call just to ask for money because-"

"I wouldn't do something like this," he protested. "What kind of kid calls only when they want something-"

"You, sweetie," she pointed out, visibly trying to refrain her lips from curling upwards. "What is it?"

"Well," he mumbled out disconcerted, "Sasuke's in my group-"

"That's wonderful news!" Kushina exclaimed. "I hope you're getting along," she blabbered. "Like, really, perhaps now I could invite Mikoto over, and we could talk about you two-"

"Yeah," Naruto interrupted her. "Mom, I think there's something wrong with him, and I don't know what to do about it," he confessed.

"What do you mean?" she questioned, looking worried. A big question mark appeared near her head. Naruto mentally rolled his eyes. His mom was pretty childish.

"I mean... I think his Net might be broken," he blurted out. "He has these weird mood swings, he looks like a zombie, and I swear that Eyes are watching us every time we argue. I think he's about to blow up. _Again_ ," he concluded.

"Sweetie, it's sweet of you that you're worried about him," she started uncertainly. Naruto's avatar pouted. It looked as if she didn't have any advice to offer. "Have you tried talking to him about it?"

"Yup. And that's his least favorite topic," he replied. "I should report him but then he's going to hate me more," he whined. "On the other hand, if I won't do anything, he's going to end up in space, and that... I want him to stay here," he said.

"I see," his mom murmured. "Have you told him that?"

"What?"

"That you're worried, and that you want him to stay with you-"

"It's not like this," Naruto protested. "I just want him to stay _here_."

"So... Have you?"

"No. But our third member - a super smart girl you'd love - does that all the time, and he doesn't like it. So I doubt that he wants me to be worrying about him."

"Then I'm going to talk to his mom," Kushina decided. Naruto's avatar paled, and his soul left the body through the mouth. "You're overreacting," Naruto's mom laughed.

"Like, do you imagine what he'll think of me when _his mom_ will call him to tell him that _I'm_ worried?" the blonde asked. It was a disaster.

"If it's really as bad as you say it is, then it's more important that he gets help than what he'll think of you," she pointed out. Naruto sighed. Arguing with that was pretty much impossible.

"There's a chance that this is the last time we're talking," he muttered. "Because, you know, he's going to kill me," he added. His mom patted him on the head in a patronizing manner. "And he's still going to be sent to space, so, you know, talking to his mom might be counterproductive-"

"I'm sure he's a reasonable young man," she stated. "Mikoto was," she said as if it meant that Sasuke had to be just as lovable as his mom. Naruto swallowed a curse. "And he doesn't have to know that his mom learned about it from us-"

"He's not stupid," the blonde interrupted her. He knew that Sasuke would be able to connect the dots. And he knew that the boy would get pissed off. The blonde mentally patted himself on the shoulder in some vain attempt to convince himself that it was the right thing to do. Hell, maybe it really was. The only problem was that he would end up as a victim of a rather bloody homicide. People were really ungrateful. "Do what you have to do," he decided. His mom kissed him on the cheek, and hung up on him. He closed the app, and waited for the doom.

The doom knocked on his doors exactly twenty six minutes later. Knocks were loud and angry. Naruto rubbed his face before sitting up on the bed. Perhaps he could pretend he wasn't there. He would wait out Sasuke's anger, and _then_ they would talk.

"I know you're there," Sasuke said. The blonde bit his bottom lip. The other boy had to be bluffing. He had no way of knowing where he was. Naruto shook his head. He was an adult now, wasn't he? He should be able to face the consequences of his actions. Even if it was all good will on his side, even if Sasuke was being unreasonable.

"What is it?" Naruto inquired, sliding away the light plastic doors. He had no idea how the architects managed to make the rooms soundproof. Walls were thin, and so were the doors. They were even a little bit see-through if the light was on. Sasuke huffed at him, his bangs flying up. He was quite expressive even if he refused to accept it.

"My _mom_ asked me to tell you to tell _your_ _mom_ to never call her again," he barked in one breath. Naruto tilted his head. So the boy didn't know why Kushina called Mikoto. That was good news. "Now, do you mind telling me what's that all about?"

"Ahaha, no idea," the blonde laughed, fanning his hand. The other boy didn't look as if he bought it. "You know, _moms_. Nobody knows what they're up to-"

"Mine is perfectly reasonable," the brunette muttered.

"Well, you know, they used to be friends before," Naruto mumbled out. He never asked why they stopped. Now it became more interesting. He assumed that they simply went their separate ways but if Sasuke's mom was so angry about a stupid call... "My mom probably wanted to invite yours for a dinner. Because, like, you know, I told her we're together again, and she was super excited-"

"They weren't friends," Sasuke interrupted him. Naruto gawked at him.

"They were," he protested. He couldn't say that he actually cared but... It would be understandable if Sasuke wasn't aware of this little fact but then... Then he would simply accept it, right? Or he would say that he didn't believe in it. There was no reason to be so adamant about the kind of relationship their mothers had. Plus, if Sasuke had been kept in the dark when it came to it, that would be rather strange. Kushina had lots of photos of Mikoto. And they were definitely close back in the days. Unbreakable.

"I don't have time for this," the brunette sighed. "Look, just... Just tell your mom what I've told you," he said.

"She's a free spirit," Naruto noted. He knew that if he was to try to make his mother do anything, he would get the exact opposite of what he wanted.

"...so I've heard," the boy replied. That was surprising. So he did hear about Kushina earlier. Or it happened just a moment ago. "...I think she called because of something you've said," Sasuke stated in a firm voice. He didn't sound as pissed off as Naruto expected him to be. Actually, he looked sad. "So make sure you won't say that again," he added, turning on his heel, and disappearing in his room.

Naruto let out a small sigh. So the issue still wasn't fixed. And Sasuke's mom considered her feud with Naruto's more important than her son's wellbeing. Maybe Sasuke being messed up was just a natural consequence of his mom being a nutcase. Or, perhaps, Kushina screwed up badly enough so the feud really would seem more important to even a perfectly healthy human being. Naruto pondered over the issue. He would have to contact his mom again, and ask what was _that_ all about. It, unfortunately, had to wait. Kushina was probably upset by the outcome of her conversation with Sasuke's mom, and Naruto had a hunch that the talk would be a lengthy and an emotional one.

* * *

Orochimaru smiled at the prison supervisor. The man wasn't even half as amused as he himself was but that didn't matter.

"So what you're saying is that we're completely cut off," Danzou stated. In Orochimaru's opinion, it was redundant but he still nodded. "Have you tried other means of communication?"

"Obviously," the man replied. "We're unable to access the Earth's Net. In other words, we're like our prisoners. Blocked," he laughed.

"...that's unfortunate," Danzou replied, still expressionless. "It's a good thing we've became self-reliant then," he mused. Orochimaru refrained himself from chuckling. He had to admit that he liked the man. He was quite reasonable. "The prisoners shouldn't learn about it. I guess we need to inform the personnel if we want to avoid panic."

"Of course," Orochimaru agreed. This issue was the most problematic one. Generally speaking, prison personnel was rather reliable but there were some people, who _would_ panic. If the prisoners learned that the Net really did abandon the Moon... And that now they have absolutely no means to punish them... Well. The personnel was outnumbered. "We may need to put some in the isolation ward," he said. Danzou nodded in agreement.

"I guess there's no need to continue the mine," the man whispered. "But we'll need to build some new buildings. And you'll have to think of a way to get the necessary medicines. After all, we're alone now," he smiled. It was clear that he enjoyed the change. No wonder. Now they had new prospects. Before, there was only stagnancy.

* * *

Sakura stared in disbelief at her teacher. Hatake Kakashi informed them that the division, which had been looking through the Torn Net victim's life, ended up either dead or badly injured. That was terrifying. At first, Sakura had thought that the woman was willing to have her Net destroyed - the idea in itself wasn't a new one, many people were feeling nostalgic - for whatever reasons. But now... Now it seemed that everyone's Net could be damaged, killing them in the process.

She glanced at her teammates. Sasuke was calm and stoic as always. His pale face was expressionless, unreadable. A perfect leader. Naruto, on the other hand... Only half of his ass was resting on the chair. The rest of Naruto was dangling pretty much everywhere. His cheeks were pink, his stupid yellow eyebrows furrowed. She didn't know whether he was excited or angry, and she didn't want to know.

"Why do we need to know this?" Sasuke questioned in a flat voice. He was so dependable. Completely unfazed by unusual events. He was everything an Eye should be.

"A whole division was hurt," Kakashi replied in an equally monotone manner. "You'll start your job earlier. Your training is still going to last one year but now you'll be busier," he laughed.

"Awesome!" shouted Naruto. "So, what's our job?"

"You'll be filling out reports," the man replied, visibly amused. The blond boy pouted at him. "We need the _actual_ workers to focus on their job. You can think of yourself as trainees-"

"That's boring," Naruto whined, looking away. Sakura breathed in, refraining herself from throwing something at him. It was a good thing that Sasuke was reasonable. It would be a real tragedy if he wasn't.

She glanced at Kakashi. If the whole division was either hurt or dead, then asking the students to take their place was... irresponsible at best. Plus, there was the possibility that they would share the other victims' fate. The thought was terrifying. That person - or these people - whoever they were - they were able to kill and injure people via their victims' Net. Virtually _everyone_ was in danger.

"...are we ready?" she asked. She hoped that she would hear a negative answer. It was all way too real for her. She was still shaken after seeing an actual shut down. And she was angry at whoever shut Sasuke down. They were probably wrong. And... There was that dead woman, and now... Now there were dead Eyes. Over one hundred of them. How were they supposed to fill in for them? She envied Ino. Her job was so pleasant...

"Ready for what?" the man asked. He looked as if he dozed off. Completely uninterested. And what was happening, was the biggest case ever since the Core was created. The casualties were the most severe. And nobody knew if entering the Net was safe. "You can read and write, right? I know that they don't teach you anything useful in the schools nowadays but standards couldn't have fallen _this_ low-"

"I doubt that this was what she meant," Sasuke interrupted him unexpectedly. Sure, he refused to use Sakura's name but... It seemed he agreed with her. She smiled at him, letting him know that his support meant a lot to her. He didn't return the gesture. Well, he was way too cool for that. Naruto would probably piss himself if she was to smile at him. She sighed. Sometimes she wished the boys were... More like the other one. She wanted Naruto to be more serious, and she wanted Sasuke to smile every once in a while. Somehow, they placed themselves on the opposite sides of the spectrum. As if it was the right thing to do.

"Of course, we're ready, Sakura," Naruto assured her. "It's just some old stupid reports-"

"Which are, obviously, confidential," Kakashi chimed in. "You'll need to sign a document or two. Actually, this is why I'm meeting you in person. I've already mailed them to you, so read and sign them. You know my contact information."

They did as they were told. The contracts were regular ones. They couldn't discuss anything with anyone, they couldn't share their access keys with anyone... Actually, that was surprising. Not the sharing part, of course. Sakura didn't expect them to get an access key to the Eyes Net. Things had to be really bad. She glanced at her teammates. Naruto probably didn't even read anything, and simply signed the documents. Sasuke was tapping his foot on the floor. He looked nervous. He had to be as worried as she was. After all, they were the only reasonable ones.

An hour later, they learned what Kakashi meant by filling out reports. They were doing a check up on shut downs. The procedure existed to prevent corruption, and to make sure that the offenders really... Well, really were offenders. This in itself wouldn't be an issue but she had no idea about how Sasuke would take it. He looked as calm as always, and that was the opposite of Naruto. The blonde stopped being bored. Now he also seemed worried. They heard about the procedure - one of them would have to watch the shut downs. And she doubted that Sasuke would let them do it. He probably felt as if he had to prove something.

"I'm calling dibs on watching," Naruto shouted. She glared at him. Sasuke would never fall for something _this_ stupid. It was obvious that Naruto was trying to protect him, and Sasuke hated that-

"Whatever," Sasuke relented. Sakura mentally screamed. No, he had to know. And if he knew, then why would he accept it? "I can read their reports, and you, Sakura, will write ours," he added. She nodded absent-mindedly. It couldn't be this easy. It was ridiculous.

"No, you're going to write ours," Naruto protested. Sakura kicked him under the table. Everything was perfect, why would he want to ruin it? "Seriously, Sasuke, if one of us will be doing it, you'll waste your time on correcting it. And you suck at multitasking."

"Hn," the boy grunted, looking away. Sakura refrained herself from gawking. Was Naruto some kind of Sasuke whisperer?

"My job is the worst anyways," the blonde continued. "It's not like I want to see all of it. The sight isn't pretty," he whined. "But I can't let our lady do it, can I?" he laughed, winking at Sakura. "My mom always told me to be nice to girls-"

"You should be nice to everyone," the girl sighed. Everything went better than expected. She was even willing to sacrifice and accept Naruto's patronizing attitude. She was willing to do everything to keep Sasuke safe.

Ten hours later they still weren't even halfway done. She was dead tired and bored out of her mind. Naruto looked like shit. His hair became oily and were sticking in every possible way. He had dark circles under his eyes. Sasuke's appearance, on the other way, was still impeccable. She probably couldn't say the same about herself, though. It was supposed to be their day off. Instead, she got to spend it with Sasuke but they didn't even talk aside from what was needed to fulfill the task. It felt empty.

"You should take a break," Sasuke said. She looked at him. He was clearly meaning Naruto. "Or I could change you," he offered.

"I'll do it," Sakura whispered. The brunette glared at her. "...or we could just take a break-"

"Yeah, let's go out," Naruto agreed, opening eyes. They were bloodshot. He probably wasn't used to being in the Net for so long. "Or we could, you know, see what's in the other parts of the Eyes Net," he suggested, wiggling his eyebrows.

"They monitor your activity," Sasuke muttered. Well, at least Naruto distracted him.

"So what? If they've given us the access... I mean, it's not illegal," he blabbered. She tilted her head. That much was true. And she had to admit that she was a tad bit curious.

"They will know what you've been looking at," Sasuke said.

"So what?" Naruto asked. "Besides, they're too busy right now, so it's not like they'll care," he chuckled. It sounded bitter. "Everything's gotten fucked up now, hasn't it?"

"...it was fucked up even before," Sasuke sighed.

"Ooo, woe is me," the blonde snorted. "Fine, let's go out tonight. And tomorrow we'll see what they have in the store for us," he decided.

"I'm not going out with you," the other boy retorted. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Whatever," he replied. "Sakura, are you in? My friends asked me out, it'll be fun," he promised. "Oh yeah, Sasuke, Shikamaru will be there. You like him, right?"

"No, not really," be answered. "Have fun," he added after a longer while, getting up from his seat.

"So, Sakura? It doesn't have to be a date, if you don't want it to be," he promised. "It's just a party, you know. You can bring your friends along, if you want to-"

"...all right," she said against her better judgement. She could use some fun. And she was dying to see Ino. Plus, she'll be able to show off one of "her hotties." Even if this one was a half-wit.

* * *

Ino smiled upon seeing her best friend, and ran up to her, practically choking her in the embrace. She looked behind her, where stood a group of three boys.

"Which ones are yours?" she whispered into Sakura's ear. The girl smelled like cherries. The scent reminded her of how things used to be and the thought saddened her. Now she worked in a lab, where everything smelled of iodine. She was certain that the awful smell clung to her body, hair and clothes, and that no amount of showering would take it away. What was even worse, Uchiha Itachi was like a robot. Handsome but more like a doll than an actual human being. Like something from the Uncanny Valley.

"The blond one, I guess," Sakura replied in a hushed voice. She sounded ashamed. Ino glared at the boy she mentioned. He looked cute but she'd met enough cute-looking douchebags to not judge the book by its cover. The other two boys looked quite displaced. One of them was awfully thin and long, and the other one was the exact opposite. The same was true about their expressions. The tall one looked bored while the shorter one seemed excited.

"We can ditch them if you want," Ino offered. She didn't want her friend to feel uncomfortable. And she wanted to discuss some things with her. Like the oxygen levels. Itachi pretended it didn't bother him but she saw him schedule a meeting with Kisame as soon as she had told him about it. And now he was spending most of his time looking at the meters.

"No, there's no need to. It's just that... Well, Naruto's kind of embarrassing. And he'll probably ask you out," the girl sighed, moving away. She put a smile on her face. It looked fake. Perhaps something was bothering her as well. "So, this is my best friend, Ino," Sakura started speaking louder. "This is Naruto... One of the guys I work with. And these are his friends, Shikamaru and Chouji," she finished introducing them to one another. "And now, please, let's get wasted," she pleaded. Ino nodded in agreement, giggling. She needed to chill out as well.

* * *

Itachi sighed, staring at Kisame. Nothing made sense. If what the oceanologist had said was true, then his worst nightmare was about to come true. The oxygen levels started dropping again.

"Why hasn't the Core alerted us?" Itachi asked in a tired voice. He felt betrayed.

"Maybe it didn't want to raise any panic," Kisame replied. "You know, some time ago I was wondering why are we even needed. The scientists, I mean. The Core is able to gather and process data much faster than we are. It would be able to conduct its own research," he said. Itachi glared at him. The man was a little too laid back for his liking. "And then it hit me," Kisame continued, unfazed by hostile stares. "It's preparing us for a time when it'll cease to exist," he stated. "Or when it'll get broken," he chuckled.

"That's not the issue here," Itachi complained. He felt tired. This was the first time he had left his lab ever since that fateful talk with his assistant. Why did it have to be his assistant? She was still a child, probably Sasuke's age. She shouldn't be bothered with something this serious. "The oxygen levels are dropping, and we don't even know when it's started-"

"Actually, I've gotten some reports on some of the fauna dying," Kisame chimed in. "I believe it was a year ago or so. I can look it up if you want me to," he offered. Itachi accepted it. So, it started at least a year ago. That was reassuring. On the other hand - why would nobody notice?

"What should we do?" he asked.

"Report to the head scientist," Kisame yawned. "I bet she'll be thrilled to hear the news," he chortled. Senju Tsunade was rather...lively. Itachi knew she would get mad for learning about something this crucial so late. He let out a tired sigh. What had to be done, had to be done. Even if it would cost him his head.

* * *

Sasuke lay on his bed, and closed his eyes. He felt tempted to use his access key. Naruto was probably right - the Eyes didn't have time to worry about students snooping around. Not at a time like this. He bit his bottom lip. Still, if he wanted to achieve anything, he shouldn't be raising any suspicions. Leaving a trail to follow for others would be a stupid thing to do. On the other hand, there was no telling how long they will be able to access the Eyes Net. Or if there'll be anything worth looking up in one year time.

Right now he wouldn't be doing anything illegal. He would look like a regular curious kid. It could matter later on but today... If his teammates wanted to search the database, then there was a chance that he wouldn't be the only one doing it. However, even if all thirty students would had looked up the Torn Net case, he would still be the only one, who had been shut down before. A perfect suspect. His only hope was that it would be too late to shut him down again when the time would come.

He decided that he wouldn't forgive himself wasting an opportunity like this. He entered the Eyes Net, and typed "torn net" in the search query. His heart almost stopped beating when he saw a link entitled "2297/31453." He clicked on it but before his eyes appeared a sign saying "access denied." Sasuke clenched his fists, trying to swallow the scream that was raising in his lungs. It was all in vain. Apparently the assholes had thought of kids snooping around.

He rolled on his left side, staring at the empty white wall. That moron should be on its other side but he wasn't. That thought was strangely upsetting. Sasuke was certain that he didn't want to talk to other boy or even see him. Nevertheless, Naruto _was_ the only familiar thing he had in there. And now Naruto was gone, partying with that girl. So, if Sasuke was to feel like seeing the moron, the said moron would be absent.

The brunette growled into the cushion, chasing away unwanted thoughts. There were other things he should be focused on. Like today's events. From what he had noticed, the public wasn't informed about the incident - if the death of eighty four people and severe injuries in next thirty could be called an _incident_. That wasn't too surprising but Sasuke was wondering what other things were kept a secret. And if there was a way to learn about them. But - still - over one hundred people were hurt. It was clear that they had to be close to discovering something. Otherwise, this would be an unnecessary move, and he doubted that whoever was behind the Torn Net, would waste their time.

Now, if the Eyes were onto something, it meant that what they wanted to hide, had to happen during the time the Eyes were supposed to watch next. If the news reporters could be trusted, the Eyes were going backwards, year after year. How much could they had seen by now? If there was one hundred and fourteen people... And they couldn't be working longer than twelve hours a day... It would mean that they were able to watch one thousand three hundred and sixty eight hours a day tops. And that would translate to fifty seven days per day. So they were able to watch a year of her life in less than a week. It's been over three weeks since that woman had committed suicide. So the Eyes have seen three years or less.

Sasuke turned on his other side. He was guessing that the Core wouldn't send another division before making sure the work was safe. So now... Now there wasn't much they could do. They could go back to the old school detective work but Sasuke doubted that it would bring anything useful. So now they were in a dead end.

He sighed. On one hand, he was glad. On the other, now he also reached a dead end.

* * *

A loud knocking startled him. Sasuke grunted something incomprehensible into the hard mattress. He was finally starting to feel sleepy, and he hoped that he would be eventually allowed to rest. He waited for the knocking person to give up but they didn't. Sasuke sighed. Then the blood froze over in his veins. Maybe the Eyes already saw what he had been trying to see. Maybe they wanted to scare him off. Or to give him the last warning. Sasuke rose from his bed, and moved towards the doors. It was already 3 am. His hand trembled as he slid away the doors. He almost choked on air out of relief. It was Naruto and Sakura.

"What do you want?" he questioned them. The blonde was carrying the girl bridal style. She was snoring quietly. They both smelled of booze. Naruto sent him a sheepish smile.

"I've lost my key card, and Sakura's practically unconscious. So," he started, drawling out the word, "I thought we could like, you know, crash at your place," he said, his blue eyes gleaming with hope. "It'll be like a sleepover-"

"I don't do sleepovers," Sasuke sighed. He should had closed these doors eons ago. There was no point in listening to Naruto's rambling. Still, seeing him do his regular stupid stuff was somewhat reassuring.

"Yes, yes," the blonde laughed. "You don't watch porn, do sleepovers, do anything stupid or even mildly entertaining," he snickered. "Now, Sasuke, please. We're a team, she's heavy, I don't know what to do, and you're my only hope," he pleaded in a whiny voice. "So let us in, it's just one night. For just one night, stop being such a grump-"

"Fine," Sasuke heard himself saying this. He blinked in surprise. So did Naruto. The blonde shifted his feet. "Come in," Sasuke added, moving from the doorway. The other boy entered the room, and laid Sakura on his bed on her left side. Then he moved a strand of pink hair from her face, and proceeded to remove her earrings.

"Take off her shoes," Naruto commanded.

"That's my bed," Sasuke protested. He didn't budge from his spot. The blonde rolled his eyes, and did what he wanted Sasuke to do.

"I know," the boy whispered. "Sasuke, look, I get it. You don't want to be here, and you don't like us," he murmured. He sounded somewhat disappointed and very drunk. "But we're not against you," he stated. "We'd help you out if you ever needed it, and right now we need you to do us a favor," he whined. "So please, just show some cooperation."

Sasuke leveled the boy with his eyes. He and Sakura had nothing to offer him in terms of cooperation. It was obvious that they were happy with how things were, and that he couldn't really count on them. The only thing he could use them for would be misleading. Isolating himself like this made him look suspicious. That, added to the fact that he had been shut down before... If anything was to happen, he wouldn't want to be described as the obvious suspect. He needed to act smart from now on. Make his teammates believe he was a regular member of the society. Their friend.

"Fine. But I'm not sleeping on the floor," he decided. Naruto grinned at him, oblivious to the chaos in Sasuke's head.

"Nobody's sleeping on the floor. We'll fit on that bed _somehow_ ," he smiled. "We'll cuddle and stuff. You'll see, it won't be this bad. And tomorrow we'll finish these stupid reports," he blabbered. "You know what, Sasuke? I don't think I'll manage to watch it for next ten hours," Naruto whispered unexpectedly, lying next to the girl, and leaving just enough room for Sasuke to squeeze in. "It's horrible," he whined. "I have no idea how people are able to do it on a daily basis and remain sane-"

"I can do it," the brunette offered, taking his place on the bed. Naruto's body was radiating pleasant warmth. Sasuke closed his eyes, welcoming the image of the garden. Now the illusion was complete. He was basking in the sunlight. Naruto was his Sun. Sasuke mentally snorted. This was the first time in forever when he was this close to another human being, and it felt... Good.

"Can you?" the other boy inquired. He sounded half-asleep, not fully aware of what he was saying. Sasuke cringed at the question. It was Naruto, who had said that Sasuke should get _used_ _to_ _it_. "I can change you if you'll get... tired," the blonde said.

"I'll manage," Sasuke insisted. He changed the lightning in the garden to a more dimmed one, and muted the birds. Maybe he'd finally be able to get some much needed sleep.

"That's great, then," Naruto yawned. Sasuke heard Sakura grunting something in her sleep, and felt her turning on her other side, resting her head on the blonde's chest. "I feel like a cheater," the boy chuckled, combing through her hair. "She'd probably prefer it to be you," he complained. "I can't say I _don't_ _know_ what people see in you because I do but, you know, it's still unfair. You don't even care."

"Not my fault," Sasuke replied sleepily. He shivered when he felt an arm wrapping itself around his shoulder. It pulled him closer, and he ended up mirroring Sakura's position. He opened his eyes and studied her peaceful face. No wonder she was so calm. Naruto's heart was beating in a steady, soothing manner. Sasuke entered the garden again, muting all the background sounds, and focused on the heartbeat. He fell asleep moments later.

* * *

 **A/N: This chapter was a little bit slow, I know :D but this is still pretty much the beginning of the story, heh. It'll be a lengthy one.**

 **Thank you for kudos and comments, they mean a lot to me :)!**


	4. Chapter 4

Sakura woke up, feeling as if something crawled into her mouth and died there. She opened her eyes to locate the water bottle she kept near her bed. Then she blinked. She blinked again. Then she pinched herself, just to make sure that it wasn't a dream. Sasuke's face was just inches from hers. She brushed his bangs away from his forehead. He fluttered his eyelashes, as if he was about to wake up. She realized she wasn't in her room. She had a rather faint memory of the last night but she never expected to find herself with _Sasuke_. That was the good part. The bad one was that both she and the boy of her dreams were lying on top of Naruto.

At least they were all clothed.

She rose herself on her elbows, and patted Naruto on the arm. She wanted him to explain how they ended up there.

"What is it?" the boy mumbled out in a sleepy voice. He actually managed to sound cute. It seemed that the noise woke Sasuke up as well. The boy stared at her, looking exceptionally calm.

"Where are we?" Sakura asked in a hushed tone. There was probably no need for it but it was still morning, and she felt rather comfortable. She didn't want to ruin the atmosphere.

"My room," Sasuke replied, rubbing his eyelids. He turned on his back, gluing his eyes to the plain ceiling. The girl looked around the room. It looked empty. And super tidy. Hers was nothing like it. She blushed, remembering the clothes spilling out of her wardrobe. She would have to clean it up as soon as possible. Because what would Sasuke say if he was to discover that she was such a messy person?

Her legs muscles hurt her a little bit. It was probably from all the dancing. She had to admit that the party was really nice. Naruto was a great dancer, and he wasn't even half as annoying as she expected him to be. Ino even called him pretty cool. Sakura wrinkled her nose. Ino also said something important. Something about the air. That... What was it? There was something wrong with the air. Sakura would have to call her, and ask about it.

"How do you feel?" Naruto asked. The question was probably directed at her. She turned her head, eying his jawline. He was pretty handsome. But he smelled like a liquor store.

"Pretty good," she answered.

"I'm sorry you ended up here but I lost my key card, and I didn't want to search your bag," he said. "Plus, I thought you'd feel better if it was all three of us. At least you know I didn't try anything funny," he whispered.

"It's all right," she assured the boy. She felt somewhat ashamed by herself. Getting trashed like this wasn't her usual modus operandi. But yesterday was terrible, and she needed to unwind. "Thank you for letting us in," she said to Sasuke. The boy tilted his head to look at her. Of course, he had to do that when she was a total mess. Her makeup was probably smeared all over her face, her breath probably stunk, and her eyes... She had to look awful.

"No problem," the brunette sighed. "After all, we're a team," he added. This didn't sound like him. He was probably well aware of it.

"Aww, look at him. He got some love, and now he's being cute," Naruto giggled, flustering the other boy even more.

"We _are_ a team," Sakura stated in a firm voice. Somehow, Naruto's arm embracing her shoulder didn't bother her. Her lying on him also didn't feel wrong. It wasn't an erotic gesture, it was just friendly. And that made her feel better. It was true that everything was screwed up right now but they would survive it. They had each other. And things started to look brighter for them.

"You can use my bathroom," Sasuke offered, probably to change the topic. "You need it," he sighed. "Especially you," he continued, pointing at Naruto. Sakura refrained herself from snorting. The blonde shot the other boy a hurt stare.

"Fine," he barked, getting up from the bed, what resulted in her and Sasuke falling off from him. She turned her head towards the brunette, studying his features. He really was beautiful. Then she had to swallow another laugh when Naruto threw his t-shirt at Sasuke's face. She looked at the boy to smile at him but something stopped her. This something was half-naked blonde. The girl shook her head, focusing again on the other boy.

"So, um," she started uncertainly when Naruto disappeared in the bathroom. Sasuke sent her a questioning look, as if hurrying her to say whatever she wanted to say. "I thought that perhaps you'd like to, um, go out with me," she blurted out.

The boy stared at her for the longest time, as if judging her. He didn't look too happy about her invitation.

"Why?" he asked in a flat voice.

"Because, um," she tried to reply, hoping that the mess in her head didn't make her sound as hopeless as it probably did, "you and Naruto know each other," she argued. Maybe, if he was to get to know her, he would finally see that they were made for one another.

"So what?" he questioned. He seemed tired. Already. And he'd barely woken up. Sakura mentally slapped herself across the face. She was ruining it.

"No pressure," she mumbled out. She was slowly becoming a stuttering mess. No other person had this effect on her. It had to mean that Sasuke really was the one. "I just thought that we could also... Know each other," she whispered.

"We know each other," Sasuke replied. Sakura huffed. Maybe Naruto was right and Sasuke actually _was_ a difficult person. Well, if he was easy to get then someone would've already scored him. She just needed to be patient. She would be able to get to him. Eventually.

"I barely know anything about you," she explained. "And I'd like to know more," she added with a smile.

"We don't have to go out for this," he sighed. "Just ask your questions-"

"But then... I mean, um, don't you have any questions? To me? Don't you want to know more about me as well?" she inquired.

"If I had any, I would've asked them already," he said. He sounded annoyed. Sakura fiddled her fingers. This was bad. What was even worse, was that Naruto chose that particular moment to emerge from the bathroom, letting in a billowing steam into the room. She didn't want the blonde to witness her failure.

"Rise and shine," he shouted, moving away Sasuke and Sakura's legs, sitting on the bed, and placing the legs on his lap. The towel he was wearing around his hips, was unpleasantly wet. "Sakura, we've divided the work yesterday while you were asleep. I hope you're okay with it," he said in a much calmer voice. She nodded. She didn't have any preferences. "Sasuke's going to watch the shutdowns, I'm going to read their reports, and you'll be writing ours," he concluded, a strained grin on his face. The girl stared at him questioningly. This seemed like a terrible idea. A disaster waiting to happen. Maybe this was why Sasuke was so irritable. Perhaps he was worried. "Sasuke," Naruto started, having the other boy glare daggers at him. "The moment you'll start correcting Sakura, you're back to writing," he decided in a lecturing tone. Well... This was a way out of it. If Sasuke was to feel...bad, he'd be able to get a rest if he needed to.

"...whatever," the brunette sighed, visibly relaxed.

Sakura breathed in. The relations in their team needed some serious improvement. Right now she and Naruto were tiptoeing around Sasuke, Sasuke was completely disinterested in them, she couldn't trust Naruto... Or maybe she could. Maybe she _had_ to trust him. Perhaps the boy was right when he had said that it was actually just the two of them. She rubbed her forearm. It was unfair. Someone had ruined Sasuke. But it didn't matter. If Naruto was able to survive his moods, then so was she. The blonde had an advantage over her - he knew Sasuke for much longer than she did. That was probably why he knew how to deal with... Deal. It was a terrible word. She turned her head to look at the boy lying next to her. She had to protect him.

"Aren't you going to take a shower?" Sasuke asked in a tired tone. Sakura blushed, ready to yell that she _was_ going to take a shower, and that she wasn't some slob but the brunette was already on his feet, taking off his shirt. She caught herself staring at his milky white back. He sent her a questioning look, and she averted her gaze, feeling deeply ashamed. She was frantically trying to come up with some lie to cover up her voyeurism but, apparently, Sasuke had never intended to ask her what she was doing. He went into the bathroom, leaving her alone with the blonde.

"Like, wow, that was some hard-core drooling," the boy snickered. She smacked him on a shoulder, gesturing him to be quieter. "Hey, I'm not judging," he chortled, rising both of his arms as if she was aiming a gun at him.

"...do you think he'll be fine?" she asked. The smile disappeared from the blonde's face. He pinched the bridge of his nose, visibly unhappy about the question.

"Yeah, he's pretty tough," he assured her. "Besides, it's not like we can keep him away from it forever," he murmured. "He needs to get used to it. Although, you know, I think it was pretty cruel of the Core. He shouldn't be here," he sighed. "At first I thought that it'll make everything much harder for us but right now... Like, I think it's difficult for him as well, and, you know, he doesn't exactly wear his heart on the sleeve, so you never know how much more he can take, and... I don't know," he sighed. "It just seems really hopeless. I mean, he has to take _a lot._ And I know he's able to do it now but at the same time... Like, he'll eventually break apart, there's no running away from it," he whined. Sakura nodded. The conclusion was rather depressing. There was absolutely nothing they could do.

* * *

Ino jerked up when Itachi opened the doors. It was so loud. Everything was loud. Even the rustling of her lab coat was annoying.

"Again?" the man asked, sounding disappointed. She hated that tone. He was acting as if she was his daughter, not assistant. Her lifestyle shouldn't matter as long as she was able to perform well at work. And she was certain that she'd be able to do whatever he wanted her to.

"Good morning to you too, Itachi," she muttered under her breath.

"Please, accept my apologies," he replied, audibly surprised by his own rudeness. "I'm just... Really busy at the moment," he tried to excuse himself. She knew he was lying. "The deadline is nearing," he added. His voice died out mid-sentence. He probably realized he wasn't very convincing. It was about the air. It had to be about air. Especially since there was no solution to the problem. Not one, that would work fast enough.

"Do you think we're going to die?" she asked. He didn't reply for a rather long while.

"...you're just hungover," he whispered. "Be sure to drink lots of water-"

"I'm serious," she interrupted him. Itachi looked away, his eyes focused on the ocean behind a window. "I know that something is wrong. We have to warn the rest-"

"Not yet," he protested. "It's not certain yet," he explained, his voice unusually strained. He used to be so calm. As if nothing could ever ruin his perfect composure. "If we were to say anything now, people will panic. Besides, what if it's not only the air? What if the Core is broken?"

Ino bit her bottom lip. _This_ would be a real tragedy. As long, as they had the Core working, there was a way to fix this mess. If the Core was malfunctioning and had to be turned off... Everything and everyone was a part of the Net, and the Core was its centre. The Net wouldn't exist without the Core. People would die, their machines would be rendered useless... They needed new equipment. Or... Or the old one. The museums didn't have enough of it but there was a lot of it in the ocean. And now... Now they were supposed to turn the flooded cities into some stupid tourist attractions. Perhaps there was something good about it.

"How's the excavation going?" she inquired. Itachi blinked, clearly surprised by her question. The city they were currently working on was, obviously, flooded but some parts of it were also covered with a thick layer of ooze.

"...pretty well," he replied automatically. "...why?"

"They had _stuff_ in there," she replied. "Stuff, that's independent from the Core," she clarified. "Machines, electronics-"

"It's probably all destroyed," he murmured. Ino let out an exasperated sigh. "And we have no way of fixing it," Itachi continued, crushing her hopes. "We have neither manpower nor resources," he added, as if she needed anymore convincing. "Not everything needs to be connected to the Core. We just need... Operators. And someone, who would analyze the data," he uttered. Ino shot him an excited stare. So he knew what she was getting at. "We'd need to upgrade some of it, though. Or, actually, downgrade. Make it so people would be able to control it-"

"...can we suggest such a project?" she questioned. This was _so_ much more important than some stupid flooded cities. They needed to prepare for the worst. All spark left Itachi's eyes.

"...no," he answered. "Only the Core can do such a thing-"

"We have to do _something_ ," she insisted. Suddenly, being governed by a computer, which couldn't be reasoned with, didn't sound as well as it used to. Back in the days, the Core was a guarantee that everything was done in the best possible way. Now... Now it was probably malfunctioning. And there was no way to fix this issue. Unless... "We have to contact the engineers," she said. Itachi blinked. He had to know which engineers she meant. While there were many people with this title, only a bunch of them were referred to as engineers by the general public. They were the ones, who made sure that the Core was functioning right. Humanity's last resort, an illusion of control.

"It might be too soon," he protested. "I'd have to prove that there's something wrong-"

"Then I'll do it," she snapped. "You can sit here and worry about your reputation, and I'll-"

"It's not about my _reputation_ ," he growled. She had never seen him this agitated before. He muttered the last word as if it personally offended him. "If I won't have anything to back it up, they won't believe me. And if they won't believe me, we won't be treated seriously," he perorated. "It's too important of a matter to be hasty, trust me," he pleaded in a much calmer tone. Ino gulped. She had no idea that he was working himself over it like this. Now that she studied his features closer, she saw dark circles under his eyes, messy ponytail, and wrinkled clothes. He used to be the best groomed person she had ever seen. It used to be almost inhuman. Now he looked like a wreck.

"...okay," she relented in a weak voice. She regretted telling Sakura anything. Her best friend was great but right now it seemed that the fewer people knew about the matter, the better. "What are we going to do?" she asked. Itachi was a good mentor. She probably couldn't ask for a better one. "We can show them what we've gathered so far," she suggested.

"It's not enough," he disagreed. "It was just your little experiment," he explained, and Ino tried to not get angry at him for calling it _little_ , "and an outdated machine," he sighed. "Kisame is supposed to forward me his observations, it'll be a much better proof," he added. Ino nodded. The future didn't seem too bright.

* * *

Sasuke breathed in, preparing himself for the day. He had to survive it. He had to survive it long enough to run away from it. It wouldn't be like this forever. His shaky hands were sweating, so he shoved them into the pocket of his blouse, so his teammates wouldn't see it. They couldn't see how nervous he was. If they were worrying about him, they would watch him closer, and that was the last thing he wanted. Sakura was particularly troublesome. She practically had the "Is everything all right?" question painted all over her face. And she wanted to see him after the work. Whether she truly wanted to know him better or just to keep a close watch over him didn't really matter. Getting too close to them also wouldn't be a good idea. He had to find a middle ground. If he was to waste his time with them, they would get suspicious when the time for action would come.

He sat on the chair, waiting for Naruto and Sakura to prepare themselves for the task. They were painfully slow, chattering about some idiotic matters as if the day was to last forever. It was always like this with them.

"Hurry up," Sasuke ordered. The blonde rolled his eyes at him, returning to the interrupted conversation. At least now Sakura wasn't too interested in joining in, and the boy eventually gave up.

"Wow, you not only hate the fun yourself but you also have to ruin it for others," Naruto complained, finally closing his eyes, and entering the Net to read the files in question.

"The sooner we'll be done with it, the more time we'll have for ourselves," Sakura argued in a lecturing tone. Sasuke huffed in annoyance, following Naruto's example. Somehow, his irritation made him less stressed. He flinched, when he felt something hot touching his knee. He opened his eyes to see that his and the blonde's legs were touching.

"Do you mind?" Sasuke grunted. Naruto had to be aware of touching him, yet he stared at him with a dumbfounded expression on his face. "Take your leg away," Sasuke commanded. The boy shook his head in resignation before doing it. As if he was disappointed.

"Last night you didn't mind cuddling," he mumbled under his nose. "Right, Sakura? He was absolutely lovely. And now he's back to being a prick-"

"Naruto," the girl exclaimed. "You're being awful-"

"What, you too, Sakura?" the boy complained. "You all need a good team building exercise," he decided. He opened his mouth, probably to say something more but he was interrupted.

"These exercises are shit," Kakashi stated in an all-knowing tone. Sasuke glared at him. Their... Mentor or whatever he was supposed to be, definitely wasn't cut out for the job. "Besides, you're adults. Act like it. No more stupid games-"

"Can we, _please_ , just do this?" Sakura asked. Sasuke mentally applauded her. She was finally making sense.

He closed his eyes again, entering the database. There was quite a lot of recordings. He glanced at the watched folder, trying to measure how much he would have to see. His hands started sweating again. Naruto hadn't been slacking off yesterday. Actually, even if Sasuke was to see all of the unwatched ones, Naruto would still be able to say that he had seen twice as much.

"Whenever you're ready," the blonde whispered, making Sasuke lose his focus. Normally, he'd think that the boy was screwing with him but this time he said it so quietly that there was no way that anyone else could hear them.

The brunette exhaled, preparing himself for the worst, and launched the first file. He expected his body to be flooded with unwanted hormones and he was right about it. He felt his heartbeat getting faster, his jaw clenching, his head getting dizzy... He breathed in in a weak attempt to calm himself down. It didn't work, just as expected. His fingers dug in the chair cushion. What he saw, was just a regular quarrel. One, that would end badly in mere seconds.

"A woman, identified later as Tayuya, attacked a man, identified later as Jirobo," Naruto read out loud in a strained voice. Somehow, his leg ended up resting on Sasuke's again. Sasuke shifted his position to escape the unwanted touch. "First verbally, and then physically. He defended himself," the blonde continued. "Before the Eyes shut her down, he hit her hard enough to make her lose consciousness. He was shut down as well. It was his second-"

"It's correct," Sasuke interrupted the boy, fighting off the urge to open his eyes. He had to witness two shut downs at the same time. It was an ugly sight. The woman's spasming body, and then an explosion of light and darkness when the man's body was shut down as well. He didn't remember his own, he had no idea if he had also witnessed it in the same way.

"But he was pardoned on the grounds of self-defense," Naruto added much quieter. The recording was finally over. "Can we start with the next one?" the blonde asked after a longer while. Sasuke jerked in his seat. They were probably waiting for him, and he was-

"One more minute, I'm not done yet," Sakura whispered. Sasuke knew she was stalling on purpose. Her writing speed wasn't this bad, and when he was responsible for filing reports, he was done much faster. "What was the team number?" she questioned, and Naruto replied her. They both seemed stressed. Sasuke straightened his fingers. He hated it. He had to get better. He had to do it fast.

Four agonizing hours later, Sasuke was feeling dead tired. He had to witness countless shut downs, two murder attempts, five rape attempts, and a whole shitload of general violence. He was certain that his fingers had already left their mark on the chair. His teammates seemed just as deflated. He sighed, ready to start the next recording. He hoped that they were nearing the end but that wasn't the case. They would have to spend at least three more hours at this. And then... Sasuke hoped that after today it would be over. He started missing the classes. These at least were distracting him from other issues. Like the fact that he still had no idea how to contact the person behind the Torn Net case.

"Sasuke, don't watch the next one," Naruto shouted out of the blue. Sasuke opened his eyes for the first time in the last few hours, slightly blinded by the light.

"Why?" he asked in a flat voice. He doubted that there were worse things than what he had already seen. And even if there were... It wasn't Naruto's call.

"Because it's some kind of a sick joke," the boy replied in a whiny voice. Sakura stared at him from behind her screen, visibly surprised. "I mean... No, it has to be a sick joke. Seriously, there's no reason why you'd have to watch it-"

"...what is it?" Sasuke demanded to know. Naruto escaped with his eyes. "What is it?" the brunette repeated the question. He closed his eyes to see it for himself, deciding that asking any questions was rather redundant but Naruto forced his eyes open, disrupting the connection. "Hands off me," Sasuke growled at the other boy.

"It's _you_ ," the blonde whispered, leaning closer to him. Sasuke's blood froze over in his veins. It didn't make any sense. They were supposed to deal with the work from the last few days, and his shut down happened almost three years ago. "Okay? So don't watch it because it's probably just to fuck with you," Naruto continued, oblivious to the chaos in Sasuke's mind. "I'm going to find out who's responsible for it-"

"It's the Core," Sasuke answered almost mechanically.

"What's going on?" Sakura questioned, a worried expression on her face. Naruto turned his head towards the girl, clearly conflicted about telling the truth.

"The next recording is of me," Sasuke told her. There was no reason to hide it. She already knew more than she should have, and this little detail wouldn't change much.

"...you've gotta be kidding me," she mumbled out in disbelief. "What now? Do we ignore it or what?"

"I say we ignore it," Naruto uttered.

"...but Kakashi's going to ask us why we haven't seen this one, and... What do we tell him?" the girl continued.

"That this one should've been done eons ago," Naruto barked. That was a novelty. He's never been mean to Sakura before. Sasuke breathed in, registering that the boy smelled of his shower gel. "We're not touching it, there's no reason to-"

"I'll do it," Sasuke decided. The blonde shook his head in resignation. He looked as if he was fighting with himself.

"Then at least let _me_ do it," he pleaded.

"You've already seen it," Sasuke whispered back so the girl wouldn't hear them. He closed his eyes before Naruto could protest against it.

* * *

Orochimaru hummed, pleased with himself. Soon enough, his efforts will bear fruits. All he had to do was to impress Danzou. That was the easier route. All prisoners knew Danzou, so his... Let's say... Disappearance wouldn't go unnoticed. And the man was paranoid. There was no point in killing him even if he was a simpleminded creature. Besides, Orochimaru has always preferred to work from the shadows. Bringing too much attention to himself seemed unneeded. He liked to watch, not to be watched.

"Is this going to work, Sir?" Kabuto inquired, curious as always. It was amazing that the Core would have wasted such a talent if it wasn't for Orochimaru.

"It has to," the man replied, stepping back to study his creation - artificial organs grown in a meat maker (or whatever stupid name the manufacturers gave to the machine). Meat makers were used to, as the name implied, grow meat. It was cheaper and more efficient than keeping animals. It was also a redundant luxury. Or so Orochimaru used to think. Now he found a much better use for the stupid machines. He just needed to reprogram a few things and exchange animal samples for human. Unfortunately, it was more mundane since the organs had to be ready for a transplant, and some of the processes Orochimaru had to conduct manually. On the brighter side, while having a medical version of the machine would be less challenging, removing nanobots could be far more difficult. The meat maker didn't produce nanobots. "Prepare the subject," Orochimaru ordered.

Kabuto obeyed, putting a big, bulky, redheaded man under anesthesia. It was one of the prisoners. He was one of the healthiest one but he was also quite violent. Growing organs so fast meant that they wouldn't be perfect - they could be tainted with cancer. The chance of this happening was quite high. While it wouldn't do for normal patients, it was good enough for an experiment. Luckily, cancer didn't kill too fast. Orochimaru would be able to observe his subject long enough to notice if there was anything wrong with the organs themselves.

And, what was most important, he would know if living without the Net was still possible.

* * *

 **A/N: oh hey Naruto didn't get his POV in this chapter ;c it's probably because I was recently writing a fic, which is completely Naruto's POV, and I got kind of tired of it :D but oh well**

 **this fic is pretty violent, isn't it**


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